


All These Blind Considerations

by Zoi no miko (zoi_no_miko)



Series: The Time Traveller who Bites the Sun [2]
Category: Biting the Sun - Tanith Lee, Dark City (1998)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Body Image, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Future Fic, Gender or Sex Swap, Het and Slash, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Slang, Temporary Character Death, Utopia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-21
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-05 12:23:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4179723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoi_no_miko/pseuds/Zoi%20no%20miko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being irresponsible youth in a perfect utopia can often be surprisingly dull. But when two friends engage in a bit of sabotage to break up the monotony they discover a visitor from another time, who leads to far more trouble than they could have ever anticipated....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I'd only been awake for a few hours when I decided to kill myself. It was the just body, you had to understand. Last time I'd been in limbo I'd decided on a whim that I wanted to have the Essential Experience of being something that I hated, so I came out huge and hyper-masculine, with arms and thighs so wide and muscled that I felt tosky every time I had to fit myself into a bubble.

Larry had been male then - we're both predominantly male - and we'd married for a quarter-vrek and had tons of absolutely groshing love, completely insumatt. The body was fabulous for carrying him around and fucking him against the wall and in a variety of other strange acrobatic positions that we made certain to try. But then he'd decided he wanted to try it female, and he'd gone off and drowned himself in his bubble without telling me. He knew what kind of females I liked, of course - all lithe and small breasted and fairly boyish - but I was still never into it as much as with a man, and the love had fizzled out.

A few days into being female she'd slipped into my home in the early morning and crawled into bed to have love with me. Normally I adored being woken like that, but with a female Larry it had just ended up being spectacularly boring.

"I'm sorry, ooma," she said afterwards, frowning. "I know you're not into it. I just enjoy the change every once and a while, you know? I can go pay for the annulment."

I waved a hand errantly. "Don't bother, we've only got 3 units left anyway. Might as well wait it out. Unless you think you might want to marry someone else?"

She shrugged. "No one else in the circle's particularly into girls like this. Except for the girls, of course, but I need someone with a cock."

"Frank?" I suggested, and he snorted.

"Still married to Leon. A whole two vreks, can you imagine? So unfashionable. Anyway, ooma, if I find someone out of circle I'll pay the annulment. Don't worry." She kissed my forehead and stood, pulling back on the gold silks and spangles she'd been wearing when she'd arrived. She looked completely derisann, of course - Larry always had impeccable taste - with skin that was a dark, warm wine colour and piles of curly hair a slightly darker shade that it fluffed out around her and that made up for the lack of curves in her body. She shoved few magnet-ornaments into it, which pulled the whole mass of it up into some huge elaborate coif on top of her head.

"And I'll do the same if I find someone," I told her, though I knew that I wouldn't.

Needing something to cheer me up, I'd left home on a floating walkway and headed towards the Flame Lounge. I could spend the whole day drinking fire-and-ice and stuffing myself full of ecstasy until I was too dizzy and ecstatic to care about what i looked like or anything else. But when I settled in a booth the couch had seemed tiny and cramped compared to my massive masculinity, and it had completely put me off the idea.

Instead I went home and slit my wrists.

"Please just apply for a new body next time," said the Quazi-Robot that stood outside my Limbo tub when I came to. "You've only had two this vrek, we're not going to charge you. It's just such a mess to clean up after you when you suicide like that, you know?"

I was too happy to be out of that body to be appropriately rude to the Q-R, so I gave him some kind of appropriately chastised reply with the emotional response wires and floated about the Limbo tub some more, thinking about what I wanted next.

It would have to be male. I enjoyed the occasional stint as female, but for now I wanted to completely make up for how drumdik I'd felt in the last body. I took my time deciding, and put everything I adored into the design of this body - tall and compactly muscled, with broad shoulders, narrow hips, and a pert, rounded ass. I decided on pale skin, shimmering with hints of both pearl and gold, and jet black hair that curled short around very handsome facial features.

So many people went wild with their bodies at this point, adding feathers and scales and tails and decorative wings, but I preferred removable accoutrements. My only completely fanciful feature in this body was to make my eyes radiantly green, all jade shimmer and unearthly.

"Oh ooma, your new body is so derisann," I heard as I exited limbo, and turned.

I recognized Larry immediately, though she'd changed again. Her new body had the same dusky red skin and hair, but was hyper-feminine - wide hips and a plump ass paired with large, pert breasts barely covered by the silk robe they'd given her to wear out of limbo. Here and there her skin shimmered with a smattering of incandescent scales. She gave me a rueful smile. "As I was leaving I heard you'd come in too and thought I'd wait for you."

I kissed her cheek and left with her on the floating walkway. "So lovely of you, ooma. I'm so droad. Let's go sabotage something."

"It's always about the sabotage with you. Can't we just go have love? We're still married, you know."

"Maybe if you go back to being male."

Larry gave a soft hum, considering, then shook her head. "Nah, I want to enjoy this body for a while. Besides, I've had too many lately, they've got me on a watch list. Don't want to be put in cold storage for the rest of the vrek."

"Darling, we're all on a watchlist. Anyway. It's nearly night. Come break into the Ancient History museum. We haven't done that in vreks. I don't want to do it without you."

Larry snorted. "You're only saying that because I'm better with the electronics than you are."

"And because it's never any fun without you, you floop." I pouted, widening my eyes and trying to look as pathetic as possible. "You know how I adore spending time with you, ooma."

"I suppose, then," she consented. "But let's go buy something more appropriate to wear, alright?"

I was so cheered by her agreement that I had love with her despite her hyper-femininity, right in the fitting room of the shop. We'd picked the shop for its subtle, less extravagant clothing choices - we'd need appropriate clothes for a sabotage - and the thought of scandalizing the Older Person who had work as an attendant and fashion adviser in the shop was just too thrilling to turn down the opportunity. Larry was ecstatic at the prospect, pushing me down onto a seat and straddling me, rocking down onto my cock. I took full advantage of the opportunity, crying out loudly in pleasure with her as she rode me hard until we both came. 

She smiled sweetly at the Older Person as we passed him to go pay.

"Disgraceful Jang," we heard him mutter under his breath, and we both burst one peals of laughter. I was so happy that it took no no effort at all to pay for our new clothes, praising and thanking the machine with Larry until our excitement and emotion filled the meter.

"Thank you," she murmured, cuddling up to me as we took a rented bubble through the waterways. "That was just what I needed. Oh ooma, I'm so glad you're back to normal. As hot as that last body was I much prefer you like this."

I smiled and kissed her hair. "Just say we can get married again for a few units next time you're male. I do so miss your cock."

It didn't take long to reach our destination. Larry and I went well past the museum before directing the bubble out of the waterway, then rolled it carefully up into a grove of obsidian trees and brush that we'd used as a hiding place before. Then we slipped through the gardens and past the hedges to a non-descript door in the side of the Ancient History museum. Larry took two of the magnetic ornaments out of her hair and we used them to stimulate the locking mechanism, confusing it after a few moments of work so that it unlocked and let us inside.

The Ancient History Museum was, as far as attractions go, pretty boring. It was unique in all the domes in that it was the sole piece of architecture that had existed since before the domes were built, which made it at least sixty or seventy rorls old, maybe more. No-one was quite sure how it had survived all the progress and upgrades and reconstruction when the dome of Four BII had been built, something about the property being legally deeded to itself in perpetuum at some point in its past. And of course no Committee would have ever gone against a legal deed. 

When I'd still been a kid in hypno-school they'd trotted us through it every other vrek, impressing upon us its importance and historical significance. Many rorls ago the entire building had been painstakingly covered with containment and preservation fields to keep it from decaying into nothing; even then it wasn't a beautiful sight to see. The walls had been papered - what kind of promok would use something so fragile in a home! - which had long ago all but peeled away, and the strange material underneath the paper - _plast-air_ , I remembered from school trips - was stained and crumbling. It wasn't much to look at.

There were a few pieces of art on the walls, of course, and the old crystal chandelier in the grand hall that was missing half its gems, but there was nothing to _do_ in the museum but stare at dust and read pages of records that were exceedingly dry. The only people I'd ever seen in the museum were the hypno-school children being herded along by Q-Rs, and the occasional Older Person. Jang certainly never visited.

Not during opening hours, anyway.

A dozen vreks ago the committee had brought in 4-D scene generators, in efforts to liven things up. The Q-R's made a big deal about how they'd been programmed them using the remnants of ancient records of the time, to give us an idea of what Life Before the Domes was Really Like. They'd put up so much of a buzz that even the Jang had gotten excited about it - it was something new, at least. Even if it wasn't nearly as exciting as they'd claimed - just a lot of females wearing entirely too much clothing and males in boring somber suits with strange smoking things in their mouths called _fags_.

Three days into the launch we'd snuck into the Museum and reprogramed all of them. When Larry had suggested it - after all, one of his Makers had work creating picture-vision which wasn't all that much different - the entire circle had gone completely zaradann at the idea and insisted on being included. Even Frank, who had never been much into sabotage like the rest of us. Larry had completely outdone even my expectations in managing to program the generators to give everyone giant lizard heads that squawked and squeaked and chirped in an entirely ridiculous way, and when we'd joined the regular throngs of visitors early the next morning to see our handiwork it had been an entirely groshing vision of chaos and flustered Q-Rs trying to right things as everyone laughed until their sides hurt.

The Q-Rs had been livid, though I didn't know why. The city's energy banks had gotten such a boost just from all that laughter and excitement that everything had been dirt cheap to buy for almost a quarter-vrek. It was so cheap enough that we'd all taken turns marrying each other every other unit, throwing a typically Jang party, having love and taking ecstacy, drinking fire-and-ice and sun-in-silver in celebration. Larry and I had even secretly had love with both the girls at the same time - though May had been going through a stint as male - which was entirely scandalous for Jang, married or no.

I patted the wall of the museum fondly at the memory, my hand tingling as it bounced off the preservation field. "What should we do this time?"

Larry shrugged, following me down the hallway towards where the scene generators were housed, the darkness of the hallway dimly lit by my messanger Bii as it floated overhead with its nightlight on. "I don't know, this was your idea. We're not tampering with the preservation fields, though."

"No, of course not," I agreed. Several Jang had tried and a few had succeeded in taking them down for a few splits, but as much as we moaned about how boring the museum was it still seemed somehow wrong to me. "The scene generators again? We could do birds this time. Or dye everyone rainbow colours."

"We could..." Larry agreed, though she didn't sound particularly enthused. "It's just that... we've done it so many times now that it seems almost expected, doesn't it?"

"I guess." I walked into the grand hall, which once or twice in my lifetime had been used for some kind of ridiculous gathering but was currently housing a provision dispenser and seating for whatever guests came to waste their time in the museum. For a long moment I stared up at the ceiling and contemplated the chandelier, wondering if we could do something to it or hang something from it, but I wasn't certain the poor thing would survive, with or without preservation fields. Then, as I stared at it, the tiny beads of crystal began to tremble, ever so slightly.

For a long moment I just stared, mouth open. The waves of the Dome kept Four BII stabilized from quakes, and even if some enterprising Jang had managed to take them down, the preservation fields should still keep everything still... "Larry, look."

"What the..."

"Do you think there's other Jang in here making sabotage?" I asked, but already knew it couldn't be so. Jang messed with electronics, there was nothing in the city that would make this happen....

Then, as we stared, I began to hear a low, strange hum that was almost crystalline - faint at first, then quickly growing louder until we both had to clap our hands over our ears to block it out. It ended with a huge bang that took down all the preservation fields, and dust showered down on top of us.

Larry grabbed my arm, clouds of dust flying as she tried to shake it all from her curls. "We have to get out of here. The Committee couldn't have missed that, this place will be crawling with Q-Rs in splits!"

I wrenched my arm from her grasp. "Go? And miss out on finding out what that was?" And with that I started through the manor at a run.

"Oh, farathoom!" Larry cursed behind me, but followed anyway.

I was certain the sound had come from underneath the house, so I found the stairwell down to where the electronics for scene generators and preservation fields were held and started down it, almost falling down the steps in my haste. The machines were all lit up with angry blinking red indicators, though I didn't see much of anything else out of the ordinary. Still, the preservation fields were down, which meant that the many doors leading off of it could actually be opened. The thought of of a real adventure thrilled me right to my bones, and I bit my lip on a grin as I quickly took stock of my options. How many could I look into until the Q-Rs found me?

Larry tugged at my sleeve. "Come on you thralldrap, they're going to catch us and then we'll be paying for this for units - "

Then we heard a voice. Muffled, male, and definitely angry.

"Come on you _fucking_ thing, open! Don't you dare stick on me!" It was punctuated by some hard, angry thumps, and I quickly realized that it was coming from behind a stack of plas-crates that looked like hadn't been touched in a rorl. 

I looked at Larry, wide-eyed, then crept closer, raising my voice cautiously. "Attlevey?"

On the other side of the boxes, the thumping stopped. "... what?"

I raised my voice a little. "Is someone there?"

"Of course there's someone here, and - I'm sorry. I seem to be trapped. I don't suppose you would be so kind as to help me get this door open?"

A door? I started to lug away the plas-crates, trying to drag them back from the wall. "Of course we will! Larry, help me!"

Larry didn't hesitate a moment longer, grabbing hold and hauling, curls of her long hair escaping from their coif to curl around her face. Soon enough we were pulling the last plas-crate away from the wall, and the wooden door that was hidden behind it opened and smashed against it with a bang, the man on the other side half-staggering as he burst through it.

Letting go of the crate, I stared. He looked like something the museum's scene generator had created, his skin and hair all natural pink and blond, though the blue eyes that stared at me from behind the strange glass ornament that sat on his nose were remarkably striking, even in the dim light from my Bii. His clothes were an unremarkable brown, and tattered and singed on top of that, but he somehow still managed to look striking in the ensemble, even considering his completely ordinary body.

He drew a soft breath from between parted lips. "What _year_ is it?"

The word was completely unfamiliar. "What... _ear?_ "

"Year," he repeated, a little more urgently. "The date. Day, Month. Year."

"Date... fruit?" Larry asked, obviously just as confused as I.

The man seemed to go even paler. "Good _god_ , he whispered, shaking his head. "How long have I traveled? You've lost the _roman calendar_? "

Half his words made no sense at all, but his desperation was understandable enough. Larry tugged at my arm again, though I didn't need reminding of the urgency of our situation. "We have to get out of here now. They'll be here any split."

I nodded, then reached out to grab the strange man's arm, pulling him towards the stairs. "You have to come with us."

"With you?" He looked even more alarmed. "But my ship - "

In the basement room behind him was crumpled pile of wood and brass and glowing crystal, all of which was smoking slightly. I shook my head. "Leave it. I don't know who you are, but you're obviously not like us. If the Q-Rs find you here they'll lock you away until they find out all of your secrets. Anything that's different is dangerous to them."

"And what'll they do to us if they catch us with him?" Larry hissed through her teeth.

"I can't let them find my ship," the man insisted, digging his heels into the floor and trying to pull his arm from my grasp. "It's the only thing that can take me back - "

"Then we hide it." Larry slammed the door shut and started shoving one of the plas-crates back into place. "Help me. Hurry!"

There was no hiding the fact that they'd been disturbed, so Larry and I shoved over a few of the generators before bolting from the basement, the strange man still in tow. But just as we reached the top of the basement staircase the air started to resonate with the hum of landing bird-planes, their lights shining brightly through the museum windows.

"Oh, farathoom," Larry whispered under her breath, going pale even behind her dark skin.

The decision was simple. I leaned in to press a kiss to Larry's cheek. "They'll come in through the main hall entrance. Take him out the way we came and take him back to your home. No matter what you do, don't let them see him. I'll go hold them off."

"Hold them off? Oh, ooma! You'll be in detention forever!"

I smiled and shook my head. "Don't worry, I'll pay off the debt and come find you before you know it!" Then, without waiting for them to agree to the plan I took off for the grand hall, catching up one of the seats and hurling it into the provision dispenser. By the time the Q-R's entered the hall I'd managed to up-end half the room, and the provision dispenser was spitting out chunks of fire apple and spurts of a brown sludge that smelled like it might have been nut-steak gravy.

"Attlevey!" I greeted them cheerfully, barely flinching as a spurt of sludge hit me square in the face. "Groshing bit of sabotage, isn't it?"

I held my breath. Would they believe I was here alone? Could I convince them for long enough for the others to escape?

Two of the Q-R's stalked forward and took me by the wrists, leading me towards the door. "You're up for quite the fine for this, Jang."

Even the Q-R's lectures on the way to detention didn't dampen my spirit, nor did the ridiculous fine they levied against me for the break in. I didn't waste a moment before starting to pay, standing square in front of the meter and feeling almost manic as I set about it - yelling, laughing, praising and sobbing out words until my throat went hoarse. Then I took a throat spray, a meal injection and and few ecstacy pills and continued. "Oh you lovely machines, your wisdom is absolutely insumatt! I'm so happy and greatful for everything, for the amazing domes and my completely groshing new body and how stalwartly you provide for us and keep the peace!"

Finally, hours later, the meter read to full, and I staggered away, exhausted. I could have stopped, of course, had a sleep at the detention center and showered off the dried gravy on my clothes, but I couldn't stand the thought of staying a moment later. I fell into the bird plane the Q-R's ordered for me - blessedly free - and programmed the controls for Larry's home.

Despite being physically exhausted, my thoughts still raced, and excitement swirled in the pit of my stomach. Who was the strange man we'd found in the museum, and where did he come from? With that strange language he certainly wasn't Jang. He had the more reserved demeanor of an Older Person, but I was fairly certain he wasn't that either.

The other Domes, then? Had a matter displacer moved him and his strange, broken bird plane into the basement of the museum by mistake? But I'd spent a great deal of time in Four BAA, and visited Four BEE and Four BOO as well. They were hardly different from us at all. Certainly not so different as to have such strange language. And his choice of clothing....

Larry met me at the door of her home, pulling me into a tight hug. "Oh, my brave ooma!"

Anna, one of the girls in our circle, appeared in the entrance with her, looking suitably impressed. Her current body was completely groshing, with cascades of shining jet black hair and silver skin, with a tiny pair of silver wings on her back. "I can't believe you willingly went to detention, ooma. What's on your face? Did they hurt you?"

"Dried gravy, I think," I said, scrubbing at my face with a hand as I stepped past them and into Larry's house. "But never mind that, it was worth it. Can you imagine - someone who's not like us? Not Jang or an Older Person? Not from the domes? He isn't is he? Where is he?"

Larry took me through into the large main room of his house. May - a white haired, golden skinned version of Anna, as she was often - was sitting with the man, who they'd dressed in a rather plain looking set of blue silks. The blue made his eyes even more remarkable, and I found myself smiling, suddenly finding him more appealing than anyone I'd ever met before and wondering if he'd let me steal him away to get married for the rest of the vrek.

"He's not from here," Larry confirmed softly, as we approached him. "His ship works like a matter displacer. But instead of space, it moves through _time_."

"From what I can tell it's been about ninety centuries, give or take. Ah - sorry, you call them rorls." He smiled and extended a hand to me. "I'm Daniel. Larry's explained much about how your world functions. I can't thank you enough for your help, all of you. I'm sorry for any trouble it may have put you in...."

I took his hand as I introduced myself, barely feeling my exhaustion at all now. "It's absolutely groshing to meet you, Daniel. And please, don't apologize... this has been the most exciting day of my life."

~~~


	2. Considerations

"What are you doing here?" The words bubbled from my mouth excitedly as soon as I returned to them after having showered off the remains of the nut-steak gravy. "Where are you from and how did you get here and why -"

"You'll have to forgive his nosiness," Larry apologized as she sat down on a cushion next to him. I noticed that she'd chosen an unusually modest outfit, a deep gold and green kimono where the only sheer pieces were the sleeves and a panel above her breasts. Still, our visitor appeared to be carefully Not Looking at her - or the Anna and May in their appropriately Jang sheer silks - and I was glad that the jumpsuit I'd stolen from Larry's closet was only exotic in the shimmering green-blue-purple hue of the fabric. "He can get ever so excited."

"Don't tell me you're not," I retorted, pulling another cushion closer to them. "Have you ever met someone from another time before? Has _anyone_? Besides, you all must have found out everything about him while I was gone. I need catching up."

Daniel smiled and shook his head. "It was a unanimous decision to wait for you. In the meantime, these ladies have been ever so kind in helping me understand many of the particulars of your way of life. I'm not certain my story will be particularly exciting to you, though."

"I'm quite certain it will be," I insisted, playing with his patterns of speech. I grabbed a fire-apple off the Larry's serving tray and bit into it. "Please."

It was all too easy to picture everything he described - his discovery of the broken down machine in the sea caves on his family's extensive properties, recognizing the technology as being something alien, something far advanced beyond their time. Spending what he called _years_ trying to understand and repair it and finally succeeding. Taking trips rorls into the past and future to discover and explore both, with his ship always safely hidden in the basement room of the family estate home, which he'd arranged to be kept locked and empty in perpetuum for that very use - and had miraculously stayed that way to this very day.

Daniel looked apologetic. "I hadn't planned to come this far forward. I'm afraid that whatever malfunction caused the ship to break down must have also altered my chronometer. I'm certain that if I can get access to your technology that I can reverse-engineer a solution to fix it and take me home again. The trouble is, I hadn't anticipated a society where I would be unable to move about without detection as an outsider...."

"We'll help you," I said immediately, and he looked relieved.

"But I've caused you so much trouble already - "

I shook my head. "No trouble. None that I wasn't prepared to get myself into anyway."

"And this is far more exciting than anything than anything else we could be doing," May pointed out. "It's like some kind of story from the Dream Rooms."

"I don't see how we can help though," Anna said, frowning. "Even if we sneak him around in one of our bird-planes at some point one of the Q-R's is going to see him, and he's obviously not Jang."

"It's easy." Larry straightened on her cushion. "We smuggle him out of the dome, go to Four BAA and get him a new body. A Jang body."

"Pardon me?" Daniel went tense, hands clutching at the front of his silks protectively.

"You can get this one back later," I assured him quickly. "Or rather, they can make you another just like it. They always keep records of previous bodies."

"Except they don't exactly have records of _me_!"

"When you travel between domes they don't have any records of anyone except what's in our messenger Biis," Larry told him. "Not for ten units or so. That's what'll make this work. We'll say you just came out of P-D and we're showing you around the domes. By the time the records request comes back from Four BII we'll have moved on to BEE and then BOO and they won't have any reason to follow up on us. When we finally come back to BII the trail will be so confused that I'm sure they'll just accept you as an out-domer and that'll be that."

"It doesn't hurt," I assured him, leaning forward to place a hand on his knee. "I promise. And I'll transfer ownership of my Bii to you, have it do a full scan. I promise we'll get you this body back when you're ready to go home."

Daniel rested his hand on top of mine, searching my eyes for a long moment with his striking blue ones, and I couldn't help but think again how strangely attractive he was. Then he nodded. "I suppose it must be done."

I had a sleep while they prepared, my body finally giving out on me despite the excitement of the day. Soon enough Larry and I were on our way to Four BAA with Daniel, in Larry's two-seater bird plane, our Bii's sent on ahead by matter-displacer. The girls would follow in two units in their larger plane, it had been decided. It would confuse things more if we arrived separately and left together.

Halfway to Four BAA Larry left the controls, crawling onto the float bed in the back of the bird plane and falling fast asleep. I took over, though I didn't have to; the autopilot would get us there safely, But there was something nice about sitting in the pilot's seat, looking over the vast expanse of the desert as the sun slowly sank towards the horizon.

Daniel left where he'd been sitting by the back window and joined me on the front bench, quiet as he looked out over the desert. "Is this all there is? The desert and the domes?"

I nodded slowly. "Some mountains. A few volcanos."

"But nothing growing. Not even in the domes, I noticed. All the plant life was fake."

I nodded again, though I was so used to it that I hadn't really thought about it. It made me feel surprisingly melancholy. "I guess so."

Daniel turned on the bench to face me, eyebrows knit. "What happened?"

I shrugged, turning on the plane's autopilot again, then activating the clear but soundproof glacia-partition between the bench and the back cabin to keep from waking Larry. "I don't really know. They say we used it all up. Water, plants, resources. Before we discovered how to synthesize everything on a molecular basis. There's still wild animals that live in the desert so I suppose it can't all be gone, but... we couldn't survive in it."

"So you live in the domes, and stay young forever. A perfect utopia. You don't ever tire of it?"

"People do sometimes. Then you can go into personality dissolution and come back with no memory, as someone else. Start all over again. Some people even choose to be matched with new makers and go through childhood all over again."

He shivered visibly, shaking his head. "Lose yourself? It sounds too terrible to contemplate."

I leaned back in my chair, contemplating the desert. "It's not, not really. You don't know any better. I've done it at least once. Maybe more, but the council doesn't let you access your records. Would defeat the point of P-D."

"P-D... yes, that's what Larry mentioned. I've come out of P-D. And you really don't remember anything."

"Nothing." I turned my chair away from the console as well, glancing back at where Larry slept in the float bed. "Sometimes I think I might. Larry came out of P-D around the same time as I did, and we've been so close that sometimes I think I must have known her before."

"You love her." The words were a soft statement from his lips.

"Love is a bit of an outdated concept," I replied, still watching Larry. "But I suppose I feel closest to her, out of everyone in our circle. Larry's just groshing, we get married fairly frequently. But I much prefer him when he's male."

"Pardon me?" Daniel looked so completely taken aback that it took me a moment to realize what I'd said.

"I'm sorry. Gender is a fixed social construct in your time, isn't it? We can change at will here, whenever we change bodies. But most people discover they're predominantly one way or another. Larry and I are both predom male. She just wanted to do a stint as a female."

"So that you could... marry?" Daniel supplied carefully, eyes darting back to Larry.

"Oh, we'd were already married for units when he made the switch," I explained, then found myself adding, "But the marriage period ran out yesterday, don't worry."

Daniel swallowed, watching me through wide eyes. "It seems that things have changed quite a bit since my time. Marriage used to be a life-long commitment of monogamy and partnership. But I suppose that a near-immortal society would have to re-examine anything that might be life-long."

"It's still monogamous," I assured him, thinking again how adorable he seemed when he was flustered. "Jang only have love when they've been married. But it couldn't be life-long. Older people don't marry at all and just have love with whoever they want."

Daniel let out a long breath, looking out over the desert. "And men, together? You can marry when you're both male?"

"Of course. Why would that matter?"

Daniel shook his head, a strangely far-away look in his eyes. "Forgive my ignorance. This is all... rather unexpected. It may take me some time to truly adjust."

"It's fine." On impulse I scooted closer to him, resting my arm along the back of the bench behind him. "I'll help you with anything you need."

Daniel's lips parted on a soft breath as he looked up at me, and for a moment all I could think about was how much I wanted to kiss them. But surely such a thing on top of everything he'd experienced so far in our time would only unsettle him more. I forced myself to look out at the desert. "Have you decided what you're going to look like yet?"

"I haved a few ideas. How does it work? Can I keep the same stature and bone structure?"

"If you'd like. Many people tend to look a bit of the same as before. I prefer to keep my height and build the same as it is now."

"I suppose I tell them what I want ahead of time?"

I shrugged. "Or while you're in the limbo tank, it doesn't really matter. The emotional response wires will communicate whatever you're envisioning."

"And I need to look... Jang. Are all Jang males as fantastically beautiful as you are?"

I felt a warmth spread through me at the praise. "Oh, I'm not particularly fantastical right now. Some males will have long long hair and facial hair or horns or fur or wings - like the wings May and Anna had, you know. Not functional, just beautiful. On your back or your head or your ankles or all of the above. Whatever you want."

Daniel shook his head slowly. "It's a lot to contemplate. Is there any way you could show me...?"

"I should, shouldn't I? Would you like me to turn on a Picture-Vision?"

"Ah.. yes?"

I kept my arm along the back of the bench as I leaned towards the console monitor, scrolling through the Picture-Vision selections saved in the bird plane. Picture-Vision was primarily created for Older People, of course, but Larry and I both enjoyed it every so often, and his Maker that had work in the Picture Vision Devisory Center had always been able to provide him with recordings of Pictures featuring Jang.

I recognized one by description and turned it on. A group of Jang were dancing and eating having ecstasy in the park - all appropriately paired off with marriage rings on their fingers, of course - and the scene was a riot of colour and groshing bodies barely clad in silks, as Jang often were. The picture began to focus on a completely insumatt pair of long-haired blue and green males - one with tiny shimmering scales on his body, one silken smooth. I'd always thought their bodies complimented each other beautifully, and as they began to undress each other to have love in a field of feather grass I couldn't help but imagine having Daniel in the same position.

"This is... pornographic?" he squeaked beside me, and realizing my error I quickly leaned forward to turn it off.

"Yes - farathoom, I'm sorry, all Picture-Vision is erotic, I didn't realize you wouldn't know that - " I felt my cheeks burn to match Daniel's, and cursed my stupidity. "You must think I'm a complete and utter floop - "

"No, no." Daniel placed a hand on my chest, light and fluttery. "I'm certain that whatever a floop is you are nothing of the sort. In any case, I needed a better idea of what I need to look like. I very much appreciate your assistance. Please forgive my outdated notions of modesty."

He looked so earnest that it helped me calm down. Still, I felt the need for something to take the edge off, and I programmed the small provision dispenser for some sun-in-silver for both of us.

"It's a bit of a shame that we have to find you a new body," I said after I'd calmed a little.

"Oh?" 

I took a moment to regard him, letting myself finally openly admire him. He was as ordinary as many Older People chose to be, of course, but if he had been an Older Person he would have been completely soolka. I couldn't quite say exactly why I thought so. I smiled. "Considering you had no say in your body you turned out quite derisann, ooma. Handsome, I mean. I find you... very appealing."

Daniel's cheeks flushed unexpectedly, and he drew a soft breath through parted lips as he looked up at me, looking much as he had when I'd found myself wanting to kiss him a few moments ago. I took a chance on that, setting aside my goblet and reaching out to cup his cheek gently. "I don't suppose it would be alright if I... kissed you? While you still have this lovely body?"

I felt him shiver under my touch, eyes wide, but he managed to give the barest nod, and I didn't hesitate before leaning in to claim his soft pink lips.

I'd half expected the same careful hesitancy Daniel had displayed towards everything else so far. But Daniel drew a shivering breath and arched closer, his lips parting to mine with a small, almost incredulous sounding moan of pleasure. I couldn't do anything but respond to that, kissing him deeper, arms sliding around his lithe body to pull him closer to me.

Daniel's mouth was warm and sweet, even under the lingering taste of the sun-in-silver, and I gave a soft groan as I let myself taste him, gently nipping and sucking on his lips before licking past them. He responded with unexpected enthusiasm, tongue moving against mine as his fingers slid up into my hair and clenched tight, pulling me closer, encouraging more. In moments I had him pressed down under me on the bench, gasping for breath between increasingly more demanding kisses, hands stroking hungrily over his silks. I moved one to cup and clench at his ass, and Daniel gave a soft cry of pleasure into my mouth, hips arching up to press against mine. 

I was surprised to feel how hard he was, and it only made me want him more. I shifted to press between his thighs, rocking against him as my own cock grew harder, moaning at the exquisite press of his form against mine. I wanted him naked under me, wanted to caress the warm skin of this beautiful body that he'd had since birth, make him gasp and cry and tremble with pleasure.

V-axn getting married.

I started to kiss along his jaw, rocking against him a little more firmly. "Oh ooma, you drive me completely zaradann. Let me make love to you, please. I promise I'll be gentle, I'll make you feel so good...."

I felt his hips give a little helpless buck against mine as he bit back a whimper. But then I felt his hand on my chest, pushing me back. "I - I can't. I can't, I'm so sorry."

I bit my lip in worry as I looked down at him. "We can get married as soon as we get to Four BAA if that's what worries you... I won't tell anyone we've already had love. We won't wake Larry with the partition up."

"It's not that." Daniel shook his head, eyebrows furrowed in obvious distress. "Please, you must understand - this simply isn't done in my time. Men don't - I haven't even kissed - and oh God, you're so overwhelmingly gorgeous, just this perfect beautiful godling, and I just - it's too much. I can't, I'm so sorry...."

"Shh...." I pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, prudently shifting off him while still staying close, kneeling over him. "It's alright. I'm sorry I haven't been more considerate. Of course it's too much. I shouldn't have even asked without marrying you. I didn't think. I'm sorry."

Daniel drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It seems we both have much to learn about each other," he said finally, leaning up to press a soft kiss to my lips. "Just... could you please give me some time?"

I nodded, kissing him softly before drawing back and sitting up. "Of course. As much as you need."

Feeling awkward, I quickly excused myself to use the vacuum-drift, tucking myself into the tiny compartment and pleasuring myself until I could think straight again. Then I cleaned up, and by the time I slipped back into the main cabin the float bed alarm was going off.

Larry sat up sleepily, stretching before hitting the button and making her way to the front bench of the plane. "We're approaching Four BAA now," she told Daniel as she slid into the pilot seat and took the controls off auto-pilot. "I don't suppose you'd mind giving up the other half of the bench, ooma? I'll need a copilot to help take us in."

"You don't need a - " I started, but was cut off by Larry's pointed look, and suddenly realized what she meant to do. That's why the girls were following with the bigger plane. Of course.

"You should have told me this was part of your plan," I muttered as I slid into Daniel's vacated seat, looking out at the quickly-approaching dome of Four BAA.

"You would have felt guilty and told him," she replied, increasing the bird-plane's speed.

"Told me what?" Daniel asked, voice suddenly heavy with dread.

"Don't worry about this," Larry told him, ignoring the question. "It'll be the best way to get you into BAA without having to sell your backstory to the Q-Rs. We'll wait for you when we come out of Limbo."

" _What?_ I - "

But Daniel didn't have a chance to reply further before Larry yanked back the controls and pointed the bird-plane straight down towards the ground. I felt the familiar rush of exhilaration at knowing what was to come, and then the plane made impact in an intense but brief flare of heat and pain before everything went dark.

***


	3. Chapter 3

When I woke up in the limbo tub all I could think about was Daniel. I ignored the Q-R at the limbo tub that was lecturing me on how dangerous it was to have suicided _outside a dome_ and I was lucky they limbo planes had spotted us coming in and gotten to us on time. They'd taken the liberty of registering us as out-domers and paid for our new bodies for us as a welcome to the dome, but we'd need to check in with Four BAA's committee within the next 10 units.

I made appropriate agreements and bobbed around a bit, thinking of taste of Daniel's lips and the desire in his eyes and the little sounds of pleasure he'd made when I'd nibbled along the tendon in his neck....

Of course it was a little disappointing that he'd turned me down, but I wasn't put off. He had every right, of course. Of all the things that were new and unknown to him, having love with me was the top of the stack. Far too much for him to adjust to on top of everything else. And anyway, we weren't married.

Would that change, now that we were in Four BAA? Would he agree? Should I ask, or take my time? I started thinking about the little I knew about what must have been his time: the records from the Museum of Ancient history, the scene generators and pictures at the museum.

Then a thought struck me.

He'd called me overwhelming, when we kissed on the plane. Of course I was, when he was so unused to Jang bodies. But perhaps I could design this body to be more familiar to him. I couldn't go completely non-Jang, of course. But the thought of trying to find that delicate balance was suddenly thrilling, and I went to work.

I kept my eyes - I was far too fond of them - and changed my shimmery pale skin to something slightly more pink with pearl highlights. My hair colour would stay the same, too. But I agonized over every other detail for what seemed like ages. I had to be perfect.

When I finally stepped into the reception area outside of limbo I saw heads turn in my direction and knew I'd succeeded. I was striking, of course, but wasn't everyone? Still, I thought I'd set myself apart at least a little. My jet-black hair was long now, and piled up on top of my head in an elabourate set of knots and coils held in place by delicate silver magnetic ornaments. High cheekbones, long legs, a lithe, completely groshing body. Floor length, stiffly starched full skirts with panels of black cactus velvet alternating with sheer silks and tiny silver bells and spangles dangling from the hem. And my strapless top was the same cactus-velvet, boned stiff, perfectly fitted and unfashionably restraining, pushing up my small but perky female breasts.

I spotted Larry right away and made my way over to his couch; I'd known him long enough that I could generally recognize his new bodies immediately. He was male again, but still red, with chin length black hair and a matching goatee, and he was dressed in a black second skin that rippled and glinted with shimmers of emerald as he moved. I saw recognition in his eyes as he saw me, but instead of appreciation his eyebrows knit together in bemusement, and he shook his head.

"What?" I demanded as I reached him.

"Oh ooma," he sighed, half laughing. "You are such a floop."

"I am not!" I retorted, annoyed. "I just wanted to do a stint as female!"

"I know exactly why you wanted to do a stint as female," he replied, still shaking his head. "And you could have saved yourself rorls of trouble." He leaned closer, lowering his voice, expression sympathetic. "He's not into women."

I felt my heart stop for a moment. "Don't be a promok. The only pairings in his time were male-female pairs. I remember that much from the records."

"It doesn't mean that's what he _likes_ ," Larry insisted. "Trust me, he barely looked at me or the girls when we were in BII."

"Because you were all half naked," I pointed out. "His society is modest."

"And because we were women," Larry replied again, patting my shoulder. "Don't worry ooma. We can get new bodies when we hop over to BOO."

Feeling tosky, I made a noncommittal noise, but Larry's attention wasn't on me anymore. I followed his gaze across the courtyard to where a young Jang male was engaged in deep conversation with one of the Q-R's. Larry made a soft, incredulous noise. "Is that him?"

He was about the same height and build and Daniel's previous body, and there were familiarities in his facial features, but that's where it stopped. This Jang male had lustrous, burnished skin in a copper so rich that it almost looked metallic, and it shimmered over his compact, lightly muscled body as he moved. His hair was so blonde it was almost white, and short, sweeping up away from his face in soft tufts that floated as if they were made of feathers. The points of his long, elegant ears were just visible peeking from between them.

And his clothes.... I could hardly look away. His chest was bare save for a few ropes of shining white holo-beads, and voluminous white silk pants sat like on his hips, just sheer enough that I was able to see how amazingly, incredibly well endowed he'd made himself.

I must have made some kind of noise, because Larry laughed and patted my shoulder, towing me towards him.

"But... say someone had been living out alone in the desert and a bird plane or sand ship happened to discover them while they were dying. Would these limbo planes be obligated to rush and out and save them, even if they'd never lived in the domes? It wouldn't endanger anyone in the city, if a limbo plane left?"

"There are more than enough limbo planes in operation to care for a dozen domes," the Q-R assured. "Preservation of human life is the top priority and obligation for all of us, at any cost." He glanced over at us as we approached, and Daniel turned as well.

I was immediately certain it was Daniel; he'd kept those same lovely blue eyes. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he glanced from Larry to me, then back to Larry. ".... Larry?"

"Attlevey, ooma," he greeted, leaning in to press a soft kiss of greeting to Daniel's cheek. "Absolutely groshing new body."

Absolutely groshing, I thought, and completely uninterested in females. Oh farathoom.

"And yourself. Completely derisann, ooma," Daniel was agreeing, Jang slang rolling off his tongue as easily as if he'd been using it as long as we had. He still had the same low, rich voice as before too, and I felt desire pulse between my legs disobediently. He turned to me with a smile, eyebrows knitting together again. "And you look lovely as well, ooma. Though I'm a little... surprised."

I forced myself to grin and shrug. "Just thought I'd try something new in a new dome." Oh farathoom, farathoom! "Shall we go find some place to stay?"

Larry and I picked the Weather Gardens Palace, which certainly sounded like the most exciting place to stay, and the bird plane we rented took us right into the indoor reception through a completely groshing shower of rain. Of course we had to pay in advance since none of our records had come through from Four BII, but I just popped a pill of ecstasy and set to it, focusing on the rush of energy in my veins and letting it overshadow how tosky I felt with myself for making such a dumb mistake with my new body.

Daniel, surprisingly, got right into it with us, thanking and praising the machine like he'd done it all his life, and soon enough we'd paid enough for the next eight units. The suite was completely derisann - five sleeping units clustered around a large open living area with a heated pool in it, half of it open to the weather. I stuck my arm out in it, laughing as the cool drops of water pelted my skin. "Isn't this groshing?"

"Rain?" Daniel asked, bemused, and I giggled, throwing my arms around his shoulders, still feeling giddy from paying.

"Oh yes, ooma. We never have it in BII, never anywhere outside the Weather Gardens. They have snow, too, every other hour. Do you know they even have an avalanche that they set off twice a day? We should go see it."

"We should go eat," Larry insisted. Both our biis - baas, now - had been waiting for us at limbo, and he'd used his to program a quick flash with our new bodies and location to send out to the circle.

"I'd like to go see one of your matter displacers...." Daniel started cautiously, but Larry shook his head.

"It'll be easier to get access to one when there's more of us. These bodies haven't had food yet. And John will need a new baa, since he transferred his to you." 

"Eventually," I agreed. "Let's go eat."

There was a tower in the middle of the Weather Gardens that we discovered housed an open air Jang nightclub, the drops of rain and swirls of snow bouncing off the force net overhead. We claimed a booth with little problem and were soon tucking into platters filled with bite sized tapas: fire tomatoes with creamy cactus cheese curds and succulent synth-fruit and nut steak on skewers, ice melon and sapphire puff pastries, all of it washed down with goblets of wine and Joyousness.

As delicious as it was, I couldn't ignore that Daniel naturally sat closer to Larry, spoke to him more, turned to him first, while at the same time seeming distinctly uncomfortable around me. I was sure he wasn't doing it consciously, but it made me tosky all the same. I drained my goblet of wine and pulled a handful pills from the dispenser behind the booth, popping them into my mouth in an effort to overcome my negative emotions. Too many, probably, but at that moment I didn't really care. Maybe I could escape the two of them and find some out-circle Jang to marry for the rest of the evening....

"What are those pills you keep talking?" Daniel asked, blue eyes curious.

I could feel the Joyousness begin to bolster the pill I'd taken earlier, the happy warm thrum of well being and energy spreading out through my limbs. I smiled at him and leaned closer in the booth, feeling languid. "Just ecstasy, ooma. Have some?"

Daniel's eyebrows worked in curiosity. "Ecstasy? As in, the twenty first _century_ illegal street drug?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. It just makes everything... happier. Easier to pay for things. More energy. Everyone does it all the time."

"I'm alright, thank you," he replied, smiling. "I'm not accustomed to substances. I think something like that might prove to be a bit much for me right now."

Larry leaned closer, suddenly concerned. "You do know there's ecstasy in the Joyousness, don't you?"

Even under his groshing copper skin, Daniel paled noticeably. I forced a wide smile and took his arm. "Don't worry ooma, it's hardly even a thing. Come dance and you won't notice it at all. Larry?"

Larry shook his head and motioned us out towards the floor, so I took Daniel's arm and pulled him out of the booth and into the riot of dancing: dozens of silk-clad Jang who were likely already as ecstatic as I was quickly becoming. The music was entirely Jang: quick, pulsing beats and heavy base entwined with clear, bell-like sweeping vocals that sang about love and joy. I had to concentrate to pay attention to anything else, but I pulled Daniel close to me and took the lead, moving our bodies in time with the beat and the sway of those around us.

Daniel followed my lead surprisingly easily, though he stayed close to me, one hand on my waist like an anchor as he looked around with wide eyes. He leaned in close to speak in my ear. "My pulse is racing. I feel... slightly feverish. A little overwhelmed. Is this normal?"

I could feel the rush of what I'd just taken starting to take hold, my heart feeling like it was going to pound out of my chest. Too late I regretted my hasty decision; I should be taking care of him, and my mind was thundering towards being barely able to take care of myself. I managed an answer that was as much for myself as him. "Of course, ooma. It's fine, the peak never lasts for very long. Just remind yourself that you took drugs and ride it out."

It was hard to focus on his face without it spinning, so I let myself focus on the energy net beyond the crowd, the torrents of rain that fell against it illuminated in bright colours by the lights of the club. Despite my own advice, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed by it all: the swirl of silks and spangles and mostly naked bodies around us, laughing, talking, dancing, kissing, and I wondered for a moment if pulling him into it hadn't been the wrong decision. I couldn't even remember the first time I'd had ecstasy, though I easily remembered the other times when I'd felt overwhelmed with it like this. On top of that, I began to think there might be some upper-ear piped in with the music, meant to uplift and excite us even more. Nightclubs were always free; there were vis-takes everywhere to collect our emotion as payment enough. Upper-ear just increased their take.

The music intensified higher and higher as we danced, activating the ecstasy I'd taken until it eclipsed every thought in my mind, the building crescendo pulling my nerves and body tense, riding the crest of anticipation. When it finally broke and crashed into deep base shudders of pleasure rushed through me, and I clung to Daniel tightly, half sobbing my pleasure. "Oh, ooma, it's insumatt...."

Daniel's fingers dug into my back in a lick of pain. "Please take me away from this," he begged. "My head is spinning, I - everything's spinning. I can't...."

I managed to nod, pulling back and holding tight to his hand as I pushed through the crowd, trying to remember the way to where we'd left Larry but finding that I could hardly see straight. I almost ran into a booth full of Jang who looked up at me with disdain; thankfully the booth next to it had just been abandoned, and I fell into it, the sound net surrounding it thankfully dampening the thrum of the music and - more importantly - the influence of the upper-ear.

Still, my ears rang and my head swam, overwhelmed with ecstasy. I felt suddenly too hot for my getup, the bodice of my top so tight that I felt like I could hardly catch my breath. I gasped and pulled at the bottom of it. "How did women in your time... manage to ever breathe?"

Daniel leaned over me, concerned. "They didn't generally throw themselves into a riot of dancing and illegal drugs. I thought you were used to this?"

"I may have... overdone it a little...." I gasped, not resisting as his fingers found the fastenings of my top to undo it. Delicious air rushed into my expanded lungs, and I wriggled out of the top altogether as I panted, throwing it onto the table and falling back against the bench. I let my head loll back and closed my eyes to the spin of the world. "Ohh, thank you ooma...."

Daniel's hand felt warm and heavenly on my shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Groshing," I gasped, then leaned over the table and lost my dinner into an empty pitcher of Joyousness.

"Oh dear...." I felt myself gently urged back against the bench and into his arms, my lips blotted gently with a soft cloth. "Just lay back, darling, I've got you. Do you need me to call for help?"

I shook my head, curling close and nestling my face into his shoulder, trying to slow my shaky breath. "Just... let me sit for a bit."

"Of course." I felt his fingers smooth over my hair, which had half fallen out of its coif somewhere in the midst of dancing and hung sweaty and tangled around my shoulders. "Please bring us some ice water," I heard him tell someone, and a few moments later a cool, wet goblet was carefully pressed to my lips. "Here, darling. Have a sip. Slowly. Let your stomach settle."

I managed to take the goblet from him with one hand, holding the sip of cold water in my mouth and letting it play over my tongue until I could swallow it. Then I took another, slowly making my way through half the glass and feeling the world around me begin to settle. Daniel stayed close to me, his arm warm and secure around me, though I'd half expected him to pull away. His fingers smoothed gently up and down my spine, the gentle caress feeling better than anything I could think of in that moment, and I moaned softly and curled closer to him.

"Are you all right?" he asked again, quiet and worried, and I managed a nod, opening my eyes to look up at him.

"Yes, I'm better now, I think. But what about you? I'm so sorry, I'm supposed to be taking care of you...."

"I'm better," he assured. "That music was just... very overwhelming. Why do you do this to yourself by choice?"

"It's not always bad," I replied. "It's usually such a nice escape from... well, everything. The fact that all we do here is play and have love and sleep and eat and do it all over again until we're so tired of it that we wipe our own memories to forget about it." The words made so much sense as they spilled from my mouth, and I let out a sharp, helpless laugh. "And it's so terrible of me to say that or feel that way because everything's so perfect here. Nothing hurts and no-one dies and no one has to suffer...."

"It's all right," Daniel replied, setting aside his water and lifting his hand to stroke my cheek gently. "You can feel however you want, dear. Whatever you feel is valid."

"I'm so angry at myself for choosing this body!" Now that I'd started I could barely stop myself, the words spilling from my lips. I turned into him, sliding my hands up his chest under the ropes of holo-beads just to ground myself. "I wanted you so badly, ooma, I wanted something that would please you. I wanted to marry and have love and just be close to you, but now I know you're not into females and you were so comfortable with Larry and I got so jealous that I just wanted to take more pills and forget everything...."

"Shhh," he murmured again, pressing a soft kiss to my forehead and stroking my hair. "I'm sorry. You're right, I'm far more interested in men. But it doesn't mean I don't like you like this. I would have been so lucky to have found a woman like you in my time. You're so beautiful and spirited and so kind, darling...."

I couldn't stop myself from kissing him, catching his mouth with mine in a soft moan as I arched closer to him, my nipples brushing against the cool strings of holo-beads and the warmth of his chest. I half expected him to push me away, but instead he drew me closer, hands warm on my bare skin, caressing my back and sending shivers of pleasure straight to my groin.

"Please let's leave here," he breathed against my mouth. "I need to be someplace... less. I'm sorry, this is too overwhelming for me...."

"I don't know if I can get us anyplace less," I managed to reply, half wishing that Larry would magically find us and take charge of things."

"I'll get us there, then," he replied, pulling me to my feet and helping me out of the booth with one arm wrapped tight around my waist.

The onslaught of the music was almost too much for me to handle, but I let Daniel lead me, taking me past the throng of dancers to where the air grew cooler. "We need to return to our hotel," I heard Daniel say, and managed to focus enough to see him talking to one of the Q-R's that ran the restaurant. "Could you please help us?"

"Certainly," came the reply, and moments later I found myself being helped into a bubble, cuddling close to Daniel until he pulled us out onto the terrace of our main room.

"You should sleep," he murmured, still holding me securely as he took me farther into the room. "Sleep this off and you'll feel much better, darling."

My pulse was still racing, my skin sticky and hot, and I couldn't imagine having to be alone in the silence while my body sang with this overwhelming energy. "Please don't make me be alone."

"... alright. I'll stay," he replied after a moment, and as he urged me down onto something soft I realized he'd taken me into one of the sleeping rooms.

Despite knowing in the back of my mind that I was completely zaradann from the ecstasy and should try and control myself, I couldn't make myself listen. I'd pulled him down on top of me before I could stop myself, catching his mouth as I laced my fingers in the softness of his hair with a moan. "I'm sorry, ooma, I just need you so badly...."

"You hardly know what you're saying," Daniel said, sounding far too calm for my liking, and I whimpered, wrapping one thigh up around his hips.

"I know that I want you," I breathed, nipping at his bottom lip and moaning as he smoothed a hand down my back to cup my ass. "Wanted you the moment I saw you. Feels so good to be with you... please, more, I don't care that we're not married...."

"God, you feel incredible," he breathed, his kisses suddenly growing hungrier, as if whatever had been restraining him was lost. I pulled my thigh higher so I could grind up against him, the silks of my skirt sliding slick with arousal against my sex, pleasure shuddering through me. I found myself again wishing that I'd chosen to be male, but lost all coherent thought moments later when he rubbed one hand over my chest, pinching my nipple gently and rolling it between my fingers as he kissed down my throat.

"Oh, ooma, yes...." I pushed a hand between us to cup his cock through the white silk of his pants, caressing him gently and feeling him start to harden in my fingers. 

Daniel gave a choked groan, nipping at the crook of my neck as his hips have a helpless buck against my fingers. "... Is it the drug that makes everything feel so intense? Or being with you? Oh _god_...."

"Both," I murmured brazenly, clenching my fingers in his hair to pull his mouth back to mine. I let the loose fabric of his silks bunch between my fingers as I wrapped my hand around him, encouraging his arousal. "Want you so bad...."

"Show me how to please you." Daniel's words were a helpless moan, and I tugged his hand from my chest to guide it up under my skirt to press against my sex. His breath hitched as his fingers stroked against my heated skin, gently exploring before pressing between my lips, moaning softly as they encountered the slickness of my arousal. "God, you're so wet...."

I bit my lip on a cry at the tease of pleasure as he lightly stroked me with his fingertips, then pressed the length of two up against me, rubbing and caressing with more confidence. I arched my hips to encourage penetration, crying out at the rush of pleasure as he pressed them inside me, fingers digging into his back.

"Please," I gasped, rocking up onto his fingers as they worked pulse after pulse of pleasure through my body. I hardly knew what I was begging for - just more, him, more of him. I pressed breathless kissed to his throat as my hips rocked up against the stimulation, nipping at his neck. "Ooma, feels insumatt!"

The palm of his hand pressed up against my mound as he began to work his fingers in me more firmly, pressing against my clit with each thrust, and the thrall of the drugs only made everything more intense. In what seemed like bare moments I was coming apart, bucking up onto his fingers and crying out as pleasure overwhelmed me.

Daniel tried to draw away from me, but I pulled him close, losing myself to his mouth as I pulled off his pants, wrapping my fingers around his amazing thick cock. I moaned at the helpless whimper it pulled from his lips, yanking at the side of my skirt until it ripped, then pushed him onto his back to sit astride him, rocking down onto the thick girth of his cock with a shuddering moan at the rush of sensation. Daniel's fingers clenched tight at my hips, and I pressed close to tear his breathless cry from his lips with kisses.

It had been so long since I'd been female that I'd almost forgotten what this was like, and I reveled in it now, riding his cock with slow rocks of my hips, each buck sending a shivering thrum of pleasure through me. I loved that my first orgasm had wet my appetite for more, loved the stretch of my body around the thick heat of his cock. "Oh yes, ooma, more, please - !"

Daniel gave a helpless buck up into me, his fingers tangling in my hair as he kissed me desperately, starting to rock up into me hard and fast. Each thrust was an overwhelming burst of sensation, pulling a breathless cry from my throat. Daniel's breath came in hot gasps against my lips. His voice was helpless. "God, you feel so good, I - darling, I can't - "

I rocked down harder onto him in reply, crying out as I did. "Find pleasure with me, ooma, please let me feel you, oh yes...."

" _Fuck - !_ " The strange expletive that left his lips only thrilled me more as his hips stuttered up into me, fingers digging into my hips as he sheathed himself deep. He gasped my name against my hair as he reached climax, body tense and shuddering and completely insumatt, and I ground my hips down against him, chasing that intensity again myself. I pushed myself up, bracing one hand on his chest as I rode him through his climax, working my fingers against my clit to provide the last bit of stimulation I needed to reach orgasm again. Finally pleasure crashed around me, intense and overwhelming, and the joy that took hold of me made me want nothing but this and no-one but him for vreks and vreks.

Daniel said nothing as I curled up against his side afterwards, but turned into me, wrapping his arms around me and stoking trembling fingers down my back. Despite feeling completely relaxed and sleepy in the aftermath of having love, I forced myself to cling to awakeness. I tilted my head up to kiss him gently, stroking my fingers through his hair, hoping to reassure him. "Ooma, that was so good... so very, very good...."

"...good," he breathed in reply after a moment, and let out a long breath. Then he cleared his throat. "I realize this is a bit of a belated inquiry, but... I assume your society does have some method of preventing unwanted _pregnancies_?"

I blinked up at him sleepily, trying to place the word. "What's that?"

Daniel's eyebrows arched. "Pregnancy. Conception?"

I yawned and managed a shrug, and he tried again. "Having children?"

I felt my eyebrows crinkle in confusion. "They're grown in crystallize tanks, of course. Why do you want to know about them now?"

"... ah." He still seemed strangely perplexed, but pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Don't worry about it then, darling. Go to sleep."

That was a request I was all too happy to oblige.

The murmur of Larry's voice woke me sometime in the night. "No, don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I don't mind. But the girls are due in soon, so one of you should probably move...."

I felt a soft rush of embarrassment at being found in such a position, cracking open an eye to see the beginnings of sunrise peaking through the windows of our suite. I went to sit up only to have Daniel press me gently back down, pressing a kiss to my forehead. "No, you stay here, darling. I'll move."

"You're so old fashioned," I murmured, smiling, and sank back into sleep despite the uncomfortable loss of his body against mine.

~~~

I could hear the low murmur of voices from the main room when I awoke, but I felt in no hurry to join them. For a long moment I just enjoyed the warmth of my bed and happy thoughts of the night before, my body stirring at the memories, wanting more. I slipped my hand between my thighs and let myself relive it, closing my eyes and riding my fingers until my body found the release it sought.

Afterwards I stepped through my room's cleansing unit, then walked into the main room without bothering with clothes. The girls had arrived and were lounging on one couch together, still in their previous bodies, and I couldn't help but smirk at the unmistakably appreciative looks they gave me as I walked past them. Popping an oxygen pill, I dove into the pool, taking slow strokes along the bottom to the other side and back again before finally surfacing again.

"I assume these bodies can't drown?" I heard Daniel ask as I paddled towards the side.

"Oxygen pills," May replied before I had to. "Attlevy, ooma. Groshing body you've chosen. I haven't seen you female in vreks."

Being female had always been a surefire way to draw her attention in the past, and Anna's, regardless of which gender they happened to be. Normally I would welcome the flirtation and the opportunity to marry for a unit or two. Instead I just smiled, leaning against the side of the pool and helping myself to a piece of Toasted Angelfood that one of the serving units brought to me. "Thanks."

I took a moment to catch Daniel's eye where he was sitting on a sofa, making notations on a display tablet on his lap. I smiled at him before turning my attention to the more unexpected additions to our party, who had settled together on one of the large cushions that sat on the edge of the pool. Frank and Leon were still in the same bodies I'd last seen them in ten units ago - Frank broad-shouldered and all done in shades of shimmering silver with short, gunmetal hair, decorative horns curling from his forehead along with pointed ears as long as Daniel's. Leon was more subdued with tanned skin and golden hair, though the tiny gold feather wings behind his ears were striking and adorable. "I see these giddy thalldraps finally decided to stop having love and tag along."

Leon made a rude gesture towards me, rolling off the cushion to steal a piece of my Angelfood. "For your information we were already here."

Frank nodded. "We got the flash about your new bodies and messaged Larry this morning to meet up for food."

"I gave them rundown of what's been going on," Larry told me, settling down next to Daniel. "Since Frank's sabotaged a few mater-displacers before I thought we might benefit from his help once we get back to BII. Better to travel with a bigger group, anyway."

"I'm not certain I can go back to BII anytime soon," Frank started, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"No?" I stared at him. "Why, are you on the run from something? You never sabotage anything."

"No, nothing like that," he replied quickly, then gave Leon a helpless look.

Leon moved away from my Angelfood and settled back down into him. "The Committee wants to have words with him. Likely about his... status."

"Ah." What he was saying immediately made sense. Leon had brought Frank into our circle the second time they'd been married, but I knew he was at least a good two dozen vreks older than us. He'd always been more settled and mature than most every other Jang I knew, so it didn't surprise me that the Committee had decided it more appropriate to try and instigate an official status change to Older Person. "Well clearly it's your own faults for always being so unfashionably married," I said without thinking, then hastily tried to correct my error as Leon's face fell. "Oh don't look so drumdik, ooma, I'm just teasing. I met Jang who've chosen to stay Jang for a good two-thirds of a rorl. The Committee can't make Frank do anything he doesn't want to do. And if they try then we'll all rent bird planes and crash them straight into the Committee Hall in protest over and over and drive them completely zaradann until they promise to relent."

The thought of it visibly cheered him, though Frank just gave me a wry half smile and shook his head. "They'll throw in you in cold storage the second time you do it, you know."

"Just let them try," I shot back challengingly. Then I reached a hand out towards Daniel, smiling. "Come join me in the pool, ooma, have a swim. It's ever so derisann."

"A moment," he replied with a smile, making a few more notations on the tablet before handing it over to Larry. "Would you please have your computers render this design schematic onto that... plastic thing you mentioned?"

"Plas-sheet? Of course." He took it away to the suite's small communication's center, and I watched Daniel appreciatively as he walked to the pool, stepping out of his pants and slipping into the water with me.

"Try an oxygen pill," I urged him as he surfaced from a dive. "You don't even have to breathe, you can stay under as long as you like."

"I'm not certain I could train myself not to," he replied with a soft laugh, turning onto his back and being able to stroke languidly towards the force-net that separated the inside half of the pool from out. "I'm happy enough on the surface, I don't need to be a _mermaid_."

I dove under and stroked after him, surfacing into the gentle sun-shower that was currently coming down over the Weather Gardens Palace. "Mermaid? You say such strange things, ooma."

He chuckled, leaning back against the side of the pool and watching me. "A fantasy creature from my time. Top half woman, bottom half fish. You looked a bit like one when you were under the water for so long with your long dark hair."

"It would be hard to have love like that," was my first thought, and I watched him flush, glancing down into the water.

I swam close to him, resting one arm on the side of the pool along his back. "Listen, ooma, I was thinking... if you're up for it, of course... I'd very much like to get married for...." I took a deep breath and tried to tell myself that I wasn't asking for too much. "Mid-vrek?"

His hand found my hip under the water, pulling me closer. "How long is that?" he asked quietly, and I swallowed, watching him carefully as I answered.

"Forty units." Then I quickly added, "I'll get a new body, if you want me to, I'll be male again. Like I looked before. Or I'll stay like this. Whatever you want, ooma."

"Ah." Daniel glanced back into the room towards where the others sat, his expression unreadable. "Well... I suppose I owe you that much after what happened last night."

He seemed anything but enthused by the idea, and my heart sank. "... you don't want to."

He sighed. "It's not that, darling...."

"It's fine," I said, pushing away. "I understand. It was just the ecstasy, it happens sometimes. And you don't owe me anything, I was the one who was inappropriate."

"No..." Daniel swam after me, managing to catch my hand and pull me close again. "Listen to me, it's not your fault. I wanted you too, even in this body. I still want you. But it's not in me to be able to form attachments so flippantly. I can't let myself fall for you when I know I'm going to have to leave."

I could immediately understand his hesitation, though it didn't make his words hurt any less. "Then don't leave. Stay. What is there back where you came from that you can't find here?"

Daniel swallowed visibly, looking away. "My _twin_."

"... twin?" The unfamiliar word felt strange on my tongue.

"Brother," he explained, looking up at me. "Two people born from the same - you call them Makers. But more. Children don't come from tanks in my time. A child is created through having love, then grown inside a mother for... around three vreks, I think? Until it's born as a baby." His fingers brushed low against my stomach under the water, and I couldn't help but arch into the gentle touch. "Occasionally, very rarely, something happens early after conception that causes the child to split into two. Two children, developed together, born together, raised together. Identical to each other our entire lives. Twins."

As he spoke I saw the most intense sorrow unexpectedly pass over his features. Then he forced a smile. "That's why I have to go back, darling. Whatever it takes. I'm sorry."

The thought of such a thing was overwhelmingly strange, but I couldn't help but feel an unexpected yearning for such a thing. I tried to imagine the thought of never seeing Larry again and felt a pang of sorrow. I nodded. "Of course. I understand. I'll help you the best I can. You have my word."

"Thank you," he said softly, and leaned in to press a kiss to my forehead. "I wish it could be different."

I nodded mutely and pulled away from him, swimming back inside and pulling myself out of the pool. Not caring about the puddles that dripped from me as I crossed the room, I walked through the cleansing unit in my sleeping room again to dry myself, then pulled on one of the hotel's simple cotton jumpsuits. I briefly entertained the thought of going and suiciding to get a new body, but it didn't matter all that much if Daniel wasn't interested in marrying me. Perhaps I'd stay like this and see if the girls would be up to alternating units of marriage.

"I'm going shopping for clothes," I declared as I started from the room, not waiting for anyone to reply. I barely glanced at Daniel, who'd climbed from the pool to unfold the plas-sheet Larry had printed for him, so it didn't register in my mind until several splits later how the colour had strangely drained from his face when he'd looked at it.

~~~


	4. Chapter 4

I registered myself one of the hotels bubbles and spent the morning idly traveling Four BAA, finding it unexpectedly relieving to get away from the others and be alone with my thoughts. I hadn't been to Four BAA in vreks, but I still had a decent memory of the main points of interest in the city. It didn't take me long to get to the Saffron Spire, where I was easily able to find a new outfit and a cosmetics station to fix the snarled mess that had become my hair. Afterwards I abandoned the bubble and let myself wander on floating walkways, watching the city as it passed, watching people move too and fro.

Eventually I had a meal injection and went back to shopping, not remembering until my arms were full of neatly packaged silks that I'd transferred my messenger baa to Daniel. That was easily enough remedied, and though it was expensive I found myself pleased with the advances that had been made since I'd bought my last baa. More data capacity, better carry-net generation, easier to program and so forth. The Q-R running the shop even threw in a new contemplation cube. Letting the baa carry everything, I found myself a floating island in the lagoon at the base of the spire and lost myself in soothing contemplation, not even registering the passing of time until my new baa's nightlight turned on automatically in the twilight and startled me out of my revere.

Feeling a little guilty, I summoned my bubble and made my way back to the hotel.

The suite was dark when I returned, though that didn't particularly surprise me. I made an idle motion towards the light sensors to keep it dim, enjoying the quiet of it. The circle would certainly have gone out to eat, and likely wouldn't be back any time soon. I felt a soft pang of regret for missing them, but relief won out. I realized I wasn't quite sure how to act around Daniel. Despite telling him that I understood his refusal, he'd still refused me none-the-less, and it wasn't something I was particularly used to dealing with.

My old baa was still in the suite, charging quietly beside the communication station, so I pulled over a floating seat and took the opportunity to start transferring some of my saved data and records over to my new baa. But as I was activating the transfer on the bottom of the baa I accidentally hit the button for the keepsake compartment, jumping as two objects clattered to the floor.

Quickly I bent to pick them up. The first was a large medallion of etched brass on a chain, and when it hit the floor the front popped open like a lid. I examined it carefully, puzzling at the strange design of black and white lines on the inside body of the medallion, then glancing at the inside of the lid.

A small square of white was stuck to the metal which bore a picture of a face that looked very much like Daniel's had when I first met him. Underneath the metal was a few etched letters.

_Benjamin Schreber  
1881-1907_

I tried to puzzle out the numbers for a moment, then set it aside and reached down for the second item, a small white cube. As soon as I picked it up I recognized the familiar accordion folding of a plas-sheet, which condensed to something as tiny as this when unneeded, but could expand flat into a much larger sheet when it needed to be viewed. But this plas-sheet was strangely warped and discoloured. Words were scratched into the top layer messily, which took me a moment to decipher.

_He will die  
use this  
go back  
save him_

I let the plas-sheet unfold and smooth out on top of the communication station panel. A few of the panels were too warped to fold completely flat, but I could still easily see the strange schematical design that was drawn on it.

"My ship," I heard Daniel's voice say behind me, and I whirled, heart pounding.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry, I just - my new baa - "

"It's alright, darling." Daniel's smile was a shadow, and as he moved to join me he ignored the schematic to pick up the medallion instead, closing the lid and rubbing his thumb against the etched face as he stared down at it. "Larry was kind enough to tell me about this compartment before we left Four BII, though at the time I didn't fully understand why. If I lost this I would be...." his jaw tightened, and he shook his head.

I reached out gently to cup his hand in mine as he held the medallion. "Tell me about it?"

He gave a soft huff of breath, somewhere between a laugh and a sob, then reached out with his free hand to cup the side of my face. "You've been so selflessly kind to me when all I've done is lie to you and cause you distress."

I shook my head and forced a smile. "I like you, ooma. I want to help, I want...." anything you'll give me. "I want you to be happy. If you need to talk...."

Daniel let out a long sigh, nodding slowly. He picked up the schematic, the folds half condensing in his fingers, then picked up the one I'd seen Larry make this morning, starting towards the sofas in the main area. "I think it might be wise if I could talk this through with someone. So many things have happened since I've come here... it's rather shaken what I thought to be true."

I moved to sit beside him, resisting the urge to hold him. "If I can help...."

He shrugged, looking down at the medallion in his hand again, then clicking it open. "My twin," he said simply, voice suddenly hoarse. "My first lie to you. He's dead."

The heavy finality of his words hit me like a blow. "Permanently?"

"So it seems." Daniel didn't look up from the medallion. He clicked it open again, thumb tracing the edge of the lid above the photo. "My family owns - owned - a successful trans-atlantic shipping company. Ben was on his way back from London when a terrible storm blew them off course. The wreckage washed up on show mere miles from my home. But no survivors, no... No bodies. This watch and this photo are all that I have of him." He gave a hard, choked laugh. "My _Memento Mori._ "

The thought of such a thing was terrifying. "I'm so sorry."

He gave a slight nod in acknowledgement. "I searched the coast for two weeks. I knew it was futile. But how could I do anything else? That's how I found the cave with the pieces of the machine. This schematic was with them, along with another sheet with the beginnings of the mathematical equation I needed to calculate how to use the machine to move through time." He flicked the warped plas-sheet open again and handed it to me. Then he leaned down to pick up the display tablet he'd been using that morning where it had been left under the couch.

"We went to look at a matter displacer today," he started. "This morning before you woke up I was trying to explain what I thought I might need, but no one here was particularly familiar with your technology to begin with, let alone mine. So I created this 3d model, labeling the various parts of my ship. When I asked Larry to have the computer render it into a schematic for me...." He swallowed, then unfurled the plas-sheet over the tablet.

I started down at it, then the one I was holding.

The design was exactly the same.

I shook my head slowly. "But how is that possible? Did you scan the first design into my baa?"

Daniel shook his head. "I haven't opened it since my arrival here. The explanation is simple. These two plas-sheets are the same - this the past version, this the future. I've never known the origin of the machine or the meaning of that message or whether it was even meant for me. Sometimes I dreamed that some mysterious benefactor from a future civilization - or an alien one - had heard my sorrow and put it there for me to find. Or God, if he exists. In my more pessimistic moments I believed it was merely someone's an abandoned attempt to do what I was also failing at."

I glanced down again at the new schematic in his hands. "But it was you."

"So it seems." His mouth twisted. "The more I travel, the more I try to change the past the more I realize that it's completely impossible. This watch, for instance. Ben gave it to me the morning he left. Kissed me and apologized for leaving when he knew how badly I wanted him to stay, gave me the watch as a promise to return. I was so confused at the time, I didn't know why he was so penitent. I didn't realize until my first trip back with the machine. Until I begged him to stay and failed. Until my second attempt to waylay him failed. I tried to sabotage his boat, I tried to forcibly restrain him, god, I even travelled to London to try and keep him there." 

Daniel's voice grew thick with emotion as he spoke. "It became harder and harder to deny what my logical mind was telling me, but now I know for certain. There is no mysterious, omnipotent benefactor guiding my steps. Every action that I've taken to try and change the past has always already been part of it. I've been on a fool's mission from the very beginning."

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pressed my face to his hair, holding him tight, feeling him tremble in my arms. "Oh, ooma, don't say that...."

"It's true," he insisted. "I can't deny that anymore. I didn't come here by mistake, this was my last attempt to find out the truth. To come forward far enough into the future that I could look back and find proof of my success or failure once and for all. Or failing that, to discover the true origin of the machine." He pushed the tablet and the new plas-sheet off his lap with a sudden burst of helpless fury. "I'm such a fool!"

"Don't say that." I held him tighter, heart aching for him. "Don't give up, ooma. This isn't proof of your failure, can't you see? It's completely the opposite! You were always meant to come here. That message isn't written yet!"

"But how can I write it when I know that I'll fail? I've come full circle now. There's nothing left but to send the ship back to myself to start this terrible cycle over again, then go to your Personality Dissolution and forget everything about this terrible farce."

"No!" I felt a surge of panic at this words and pulled back to take his face in my hands. "Don't. Please don't. I couldn't stand it. Don't leave me."

Daniel let out a helpless sounding sigh, bringing one hand up to stroke his fingers over my hair. "I was never meant to be here."

"You were always meant to be here," I insisted. "Your message will still come true. You just need help. You need me. We'll build another ship, we'll make it a bird plane this time. We'll go back and save your twin and leave your old ship behind for you to find. That's the message your future self wanted you to have."

For a long moment Daniel just stared at me. Then he swallowed hard, his words tentative. "You... really think it's possible?"

"Of course," I replied, smiling, wanting to encourage him. "Think about it, ooma. We have everything we need here. We'll go find his sand ship before it crashes in the storm, pull him off and bring him home again with us."

I wasn't sure what I'd said, but abruptly the flicker of hope in his eyes died and he pulled back, giving his head a little shake and standing. "... I wish we could."

"Why not?" I stared up at him in amazement. "It makes perfect sense!"

Daniel forced a smile as he reached out to cup my face with one hand, running his thumb along my cheekbone. "You're sweet," he said finally, leaning down to press a kiss to my forehead. "But you know nothing of my world."

"Then teach me," I said helplessly, standing as Daniel started to walk away. "Help me understand. Daniel!"

But Daniel merely disappeared into one of the sleeping rooms, the door sliding closed behind him, and moments later the recluse indicator switched on.

For a few seconds I just stood and stared at it, bewildered. Then frustration set in, which quickly boiled over into anger, and I yelled every expletive towards his closed door despite knowing that he couldn't hear me, and punctuated it by hurling one of the cushions across the room.

Fine. He thought I didn't know anything? I'd learn. Summoning my baa I stormed out of the hotel and back to my bubble, the bells and spangles on my new skirt smacking against each other most satisfyingly.

Four BAA had to have a records tower, the same as Four BII. I'd become an expert on everything he knew about. I'd prove him wrong even if it took a whole vrek.

~~~

 

Once I found the History Tower in BAA I took another meal injection, then doused myself with stay-awake pills and threw myself into the records in a frenzy. I quickly discovered that the numbers on his medallion had been _dates_ , and I spent the evening immersed in tales of the time. 

It was both fascinating and terrible - unimaginable that everyone had to toil for livelihood, that people starved for lack of food, killed each other in wars between domes - countries - or over petty disagreements. But it was wonderful at the same time, and I found myself lost in 3D projections of lush hills covered with real, growing plants, of trees and lakes. Hundreds of thousands of species of animals so foreign to those grown on the android farms here in BAA, or even the animals that still made their homes in the deserts outside the domes. I watched scenes of people traveling distances on the backs of real, magnificent horses, then slow, chugging _automobiles_ , then building the first bird planes that glided unsteadily through the air.

Finally I asked for records on merchant ships, and finally understood the magnificence of the vast seas of water that covered so much of the planet. I'd know of their long ago existance, of course, but what I'd imagined was so trivial compared to the swirling, crashing force that the records projected.

"Show me a shipwreck," I told the computer.

There was a pause. "This record is not recommended for viewing."

"I don't care," I replied. "Show me anyway."

"The records on shipwrecks have been flagged for causing undue distress," the computer replied. "I must warn you that it has been documented to be traumatizing."

"Warning taken," I told it. "Show me anyway."

The 3D started again, and I found myself looking at a huge, grand vessel, hundreds of times larger than any bird plane or even sand ship that I'd ever seen, clipping proudly through the water.

"The wreck of the RMS Titanic," the computer started, "was one of the deadliest commercial peacetime maritime disasters of ancient times. The passenger ship sank during her maiden voyage in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg. The sinking resulted in the permanent death of more than 1,500 passengers and crew."

I shook my head. "How could it sink? Look how big it is!"

Then I watched, horrified, as the 3D illustrated the computer's words. The huge ship collided with something huge and white that floated in the sea - iceberg, my memory supplied - and I watched the grand structure crack and crumble and slowly began to sink. Hundreds of passengers piled into tiny boats that launched away from it, but hundreds more remained on board, clinging to each other as the icy water grew closer. Others jumped overboard, drowning in the dark, turbulent water. Then the huge ship began to crack in the middle, the back half dragged upright by the weight of the propeller.

"Where are the rest of the boats?" I cried at the scene, angry and appalled the absurd stupidity of it. "Why weren't there enough for everyone? Why isn't anyone coming to help them? How could they let everyone die?"

Abruptly, the 3D shut off, the images disappearing. I could hear the computer begin to pipe in soothing inner-ear music at my distress, but I clamped my hands over my ears and stormed out, sobbing. How dare it try to comfort me? How could I feel okay about something like that?

I sat on the steps of the history tower and cried, overwhelmed by the truth of how things had been. About the certain knowledge of what had befallen Daniel's twin, and about what it must feel like for him to live with that knowledge. I thought about what it felt like to drown and how terrifying it must have been for those people, knowing that no limbo-plane was coming to save them and safely transplant their life-spark into a new body.

Eventually I took the calming pill that my baa kept trying to offer me and sat quietly in the dim light of pre-dawn. I let my body become calm and languid, looking up at the stars that twinkled on the underside of the dome and watching the first rays of dawn begin to light the sky.

Then, as I watched the sunrise colour the sky, an idea began to form in my mind.

It was fully light by the time I returned home, though the suite was silent, the doors to all the sleeping rooms closed apart from my empty one. The recluse light on Daniel's wasn't on anymore, and I pushed it open, words bubbling from my lips in excitement.

"Ooma, I've figured it out. I know how to make it happen! Help me wake everyone!"

I moved onto Larry's door without waiting for a response. I found him in bed with an out-circle Jang, some huge, brawnish thug of a man. I didn't care, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him out of bed. "Get up, ooma. I know what we have to do, get up."

"Go away, you thalldrap," he grumbled, holding tighter to his lover. "We only married for the night, let me enjoy it."

"This is more important than having love," I insisted, yanking the blanket off them and smiling brightly at the other Jang as he glared up at me sleepily. "Attlevy, ooma, I'm sure you're absolutely groshing and all but I need Larry right now for circle-things, so kindly _get out_."

" _V-axn_ " he snarled at me, grabbing his jumpsuit off the floor but not caring to put it on. Then he glared at Larry. "I can't can't believe your circle's so unfashionably rude. Glad it was only a night."

"Sorry, ooma," Larry tried, but the other man had already marched out the door.

"Sorry," I echoed. "But this really is important."

"Better be. He had a groshing big cock." Larry replied, pulling on a pair of pants, though I could tell his grumpiness was only half hearted.

"And I'm sure that's the only reason you were with him," I shot back, to which Larry grinned and shrugged, following me out into the main room.

Frank and Leon were already settled on one of the couches, Frank drinking a stimulant while Leon snuggled sleepily against his side. The girls were following Daniel out of the last room - married again, though I suddenly didn't care if they were unavailable.

"What's all this about, ooma?" Anna asked me, stifling a yawn.

I made a motion to one of the serving robots to bring us a round of stim-drinks. "A grand adventure," I told her, grinning, rocking back on my heels in excitement. "And it's our destiny to play a part."

May's eyebrows crinkled. "What's 'destiny'?"

I shook my head. "Something mystical and ancient and far more exciting than spending another day just doing ecstacy and riding fire-boats, ooma." Then I looked to Daniel, smiling wider at the cautious but hopeful curiosity in his gaze.

"I was wrong about what we have to do," I told him, feeling my voice tremble with excitement. "Think about your message. He will die, use this, go back, save him. He _will_ die. It's not a warning. It's fact."

Daniel's lips parted with a soft intake of breath. "Go on."

"We don't need to make a bird plane that can travel through time. Your brother will die no matter what we do, that's already happened. But it won't be permanent if we _hijack a limbo plane._ "

For a moment there was only silence. Frank finally broke it. "You're completely zaradann."

"Of course I am," I shot back. "But it doesn't mean it won't work."

He shook his head. "How the hell are we going to get a limbo plane? The committee tracks those every split of every unit. Even if we could hijack one they'd be on us almost immediately. We'd never have time to make the matter-displacer modifications."

"We don't have to modify it," Daniel said softly, looking up at me, eyes shining. "We load it with a disassembled matter-displacer and I'll reprogram another to send us back. Then it's only a matter of finding Ben's shipwreck, then rebuilding the second displacer to send us home again." His words came faster, excited. "Of course. I'll build it in the sea cave. I've already built it there. That's how it came to me to begin with. How did I not see it?" He caught me up in his arms suddenly, pulling me into a laughing, breathless spin. "Oh god, darling, you _did_ figure it out!"

I felt such an intense joy that I thought my heart might burst, and I clung to him, laughing. "See? This is all part of it. You just needed us."

"I think I missed something," Larry said, finishing his cup of stim. "What's going on? Who's dead?"

"My brother," Daniel replied, pulling back. "The real reason I'm here. I'm sorry, I'll explain everything to you."

"I still think it's pretty optimistic to think we can hijack a limbo plane," Frank said, frowning.

"We'll figure out a way," I replied, too happy to be pessimistic. "You've ridden along to take Leon to limbo before. Just don't leave when they drop him off, take it then."

"Or before," Frank mused slowly. "I've seen planes carrying dozens when there's been really terrible dome sabotages. They can keep someone in cold storage for as long as the plane has power."

"Well, let's give it a test run, then." Nerves still buzzing with excitement, I turned for my sleeping room, motioning my new baa after me. One of its new features was a multi-tool that stored cutlery, and I flicked open the molecule knife. It would be good to be out of this body, anyway.

I sliced deep up the length of my arm with practiced ease, relishing in the rush of bright-hot agony and tumbling back onto the bed as blood spurted from the wound. I managed to take the knife with my other hand despite the injury, and had just pushed the blade into my other wrist when I heard Daniel at the door.

"Oh god, what are you doing?!" he rushed to my side, yanking away the knife to scatter across the floor, and I felt his hands close around my wrists, trying to press the wounds closed. "Someone help!"

I was already starting to feel the familiar lightheadedness, the room dimming. "Don't worry, ooma," I managed to gasp. "... be back soon."

I could vaguely hear Larry's voice at the door. "God, ooma, why do you always have to be so messy? He does this all the time, Daniel."

"He what? No - no no - help me stop this. Darling, don't do this, don't - "

I couldn't understand why he was crying, and I tried to smile. "... watch for the plane. Ride with me."

"I don't want to watch for the plane, I want - " He gulped back a sob, letting go of my wrists, holding me closer. "You're a stupid, beautiful asshole," I heard him say as the world dimmed around me, and as I lost consciousness I thought I heard his voice once more.

"God help me, I love you for it."

~~~


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up in the limbo tub to a turmoil of emotions, and all of them centered around Daniel. Guilt, primarily. He'd sounded surprisingly upset, more than I'd ever expected. At first I felt confused by it; then I'd remembered how horrified I'd been watching the record about the shipwreck, and was overwhelmed by guilt and regret.

But the last words he'd said... Had I really heard that? Despite my regret, I felt a soft shiver of delight. Of hope.

"You were here two units ago," said the Q-R that said over my tub. "You're going to have to pay extra for this. If you come back within the next ten we're going to put you in cold storage for the rest of the half-vrek."

I couldn't even bring myself to be rude to him. Happily I ordered something much like my last, groshing male body, though this time I made my hair a deep, midnight blue-black with a few streaks of deep green. I requested a pair of voluminous pants similar to the white ones Daniel had chosen that first day out of limbo, but in a shimmery mix of the same colors of my hair - and tight around my ankles, but slit up the sides.

I thought about Daniel as I paid, letting my uncertain excitement bubble over into breathless praise and adulations for the computer. Then I hurried out of Limbo.

I hadn't expected anyone to be waiting for me, and my heart jumped when i spotted Daniel and Larry. I hurried towards them, only registering the anger in Daniel's expression seconds before reaching them, before Daniel's hand connected with my cheek with a sharp crack. "You complete and utter floop!"

I reeled back in shock, pressing a hand to my burning cheek. "Ow!" But before I could say anything else, Daniel had thrown his arms up around my neck, burying his face in my neck with a soft, choked sob.

Heart aching with guilt, I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my face to his hair. "I'm sorry, ooma. Forgive me. I didn't realize... I didn't think about what it would be like for you."

"You never do," murmured, but his arms tightened around my shoulders. "You're so ridiculously impulsive and overwhelming and...." he let out a long breath, then pulled back to look up at me. "Promise me you'll never do that again."

I raised my eyebrows. "Suicide?"

 

Daniel's lips pressed together tightly, and he shook his head. "Not like that. Preferably not at all."

I smiled, bringing a hand up to brush the backs of my fingers against his cheek. "Not like that. I promise. And I'll do my best to avoid the second."

"Then I'll do my best to forgive you."

I pouted. "Oh ooma, don't be like that. I didn't mean any harm, I was trying to help." I glanced to Larry. "Did you get what you needed?"

He nodded, jerking his head towards outside and we followed, starting along the walkway back to the nearby main waterway. "Everyone got a good look at the plane, it had to land right on the pool deck to come extract you from your room, though I'm sure you knew it would. I had my baa record while yours and Daniel's took scans of the craft. Would have been nice to have had a bit of notice though, ooma."

"Sorry," I said again, feeling more rueful. I tried to change the subject, looking towards Daniel. "Your new silks look good on you, ooma. Did you two go shopping while you waited?"

Instead of the white hotel jumpsuit Daniel had thrown on when I'd woken him, he was wearing a pair of butter soft synth-leather pants were fitted, but not tight, and ended at mid calf, and a sheer silk vest that hung open. Both were in the same light tan and spangled with tiny gold beads that glinted in the dome's sunlight. 

His lips thinned, and he looked up at me pointedly. "Well I couldn't exactly continue wearing that jumpsuit with your blood all over it."

"Oh ooma, I'm sorry...!" I half wailed the apology, and Daniel chuckled softly, wrapping an arm around my waist and leaning into me.

Larry turned as we reached the waterway. "Listen, ooma. I didn't get a chance to tell you, but that selt tank of a man I married last night was from Four BEE. His maker-guardian has work at dome planning, and apparently there's a storage facility there filled with surplus electronics. I'm going to go try and make up for you kicking him out and see what else I can learn. It might be a good place to scrounge up what we need."

"You don't have to - " Daniel started, but Larry smirked and shook his head.

"Oh believe me, I had an absolutely groshing time of it. _Pumping_ him for information." He grinned and waggled his eyebrows. "I'll catch you back at the hotel at some point. But you should go enjoy the city, yeah?" He looked at me pointedly. "Show Daniel around."

I looked down at him. "I'd be happy to, if you'd like?"

Daniel bit his lip and nodded, seeming suddenly unsure. "If... if you'd like to."

I slipped from his embrace to take his hand in mine, giving it a squeeze. "Very much."

He was strangely quiet as I summoned a bubble, climbing inside and watching me climb after, eyebrows knit together in what seemed like worry. I covered his hand on the seat with my own. "Are you really so angry with me, ooma?"

He looked down at our hands, then shook his head slowly. "I think you just surprised me. Or perhaps I surprised myself. When I saw you on the bed... all that blood....." he shivered, and covered my hand with his other one, holding it tightly.

I leaned closer to him, another surge of guilt and regret rolling through me. "I'm so sorry. I feel terrible."

Daniel shook his head and offered me a small, fond smile. "It's all right, darling. Truly. Your intentions were so good. I just didn't expect to... react quite so strongly." He lifted his hand from mine, hesitating for a moment, then brushing his fingers against my jaw. "Despite how much I... rather hoped that you would chose to go back to this amazingly handsome body."

I smiled, turning my face to press a kiss to his fingers, feeling my heart beat faster as I did. ""Do you like it?"

"You know I do," he replied, low and husky, sending a shiver of arousal through me.

Marry me, I wanted to say, but I couldn't stand the pain of hearing him refuse again. Instead I drew back, guiding the bubble out into the waterway. "What would you like to see? I could take you fire-riding, or to an upper ear symphony, or we can go shop or eat...."

He shook his head, still smiling. "Show me your favorite thing in BAA."

I knew immediately what I wanted. "We'll have to wait for dark for that. But there's some things I can show you on the way."

I took the lazy route through the city, past the spiraling towers of Saffron Spire and over the lake at its base, then through one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods in BAA. It was filled with fantastically designed homes hidden among towering trees that showered delicate blossoms of silver and gold silk down over the feather grass. We crossed a calm, golden lake with more homes underneath, bubbling domes amongst giant, curling fronds of seaweed. I finally tied the bubble at the Tourmaline Playgrounds, buying a cone of spun sugar-ice from one of the food carts. "Have some."

Daniel hesitated with his fingers over the fluffy confection, a teasing smile on his lips. "I don't know, is it going to get me high?"

I laughed, shaking my head. "No ecstasy in it, I promise. Or any other kind of drug. I promise I will not expose you to any mood-altering substances."

"It didn't turn out all that badly last time," he replied amicably, taking a clump of the spun sugar-ice and carefully putting it into his mouth, drawing a gasp as his eyes widened. "Oh!"

I grinned, taking a piece myself. The fluff was soft and dry in my fingers, but evaporated as soon as it hit my tongue, a refreshingly cold sweetness spreading through my mouth. "Good?"

"Amazing. My mind says it shouldn't be possible. But it is... like so many things here." He took another piece as I pushed it towards him, and we savored it as we walked through one of the playground's responsive flower gardens, watching the flowers around us curve and grow and change colour in response to the way that we moved and spoke and laughed. 

They had fun booths - nothing like the Dimension Palace, of course - but that challenged your senses all the same. I prefered a few splits of disorientation compared to the DP labyrinths; and in any case, we could walk through them together. The one Daniel chose turned the world upside down between one step and another, then inverted the light and darkness, then made it so we were looking down on our heads and then up at our feet. Rather than being frightened Daniel seemed to find it all fascinating, stepping forward and back again through the different stages until I started to feel slightly ill and had to hurry ahead without him.

Daniel followed me a split later, laughing and breathless, wrapping his arms up around my neck. "Your world is so incredible. Thank you, darling."

I curled my arms around him and hugged him against me, enjoying the closeness, smiling against his hair. "You haven't even seen my favorite part yet."

"Oh?"

"Soon," I promised, indulging in a kiss to his hair before pulling back, catching his hand. "Come on. Let's watch the sunset."

We waded through a colourful, non-wet fountain - I was pleased to see Daniel plunge right in after me without hesitation - climbing the tiers amidst the sparkling fall of water to sit on the top of it on a flower shaped pedestal that I'm sure was meant for it, streams of water spurting and falling around us. It smelled slightly of Jasmine, pleasant and sweet, and I wrapped my arm around Daniel's shoulders as he leaned into me, the dome above us beginning to change into the bright riot of colour that signaled the end of the day.

"It's beautiful," Daniel murmured. "But it's not the real sun, is it?"

I shook my head. "No. Not like in the desert. Some people get tosky if they see the real sun or the sky beyond the dome. A lot of bird planes don't even have proper windows."

"But you weren't afraid."

I shrugged. "Seems silly to be, when nothing can really hurt us."

He was silent for a long moment, watching the sky, and when he spoke again his voice was almost inaudible. "Am I just an adventure for you?"

I felt my heart twist painfully, and I held him closer, wanting to kiss every such thought from his mind. "No. At first, yes. Not now."

Daniel turned into me, looking up with blue eyes bright in the light of the fountain. "What changed?"

I opened my mouth to reply, then closed it, shaking my head slowly. "I don't know. Maybe it was the way it felt to kiss you that first day on our way to BAA. Or how you took care of me even when I was an idiot at the club. Or having love. Maybe... maybe it was the way it felt to have your arms around me the last time I died. I don't know, ooma, maybe it was all of that. I just know that it did change, that my heart hurts when I'm with you and hurts more when I'm away from you, and I feel more alive than I've felt in vreks and vreks."

Daniel smiled, small and trembling, leaning up to press a slow, warm kiss to my lips. Then he pressed another kiss to my jaw, his breath a soft sigh against my skin. "I'm afraid I've become hopelessly _besotted_ with you."

I didn't know the word, but my heart leapt at the tenderness with which he said it. "Besotted?"

Daniel kissed me again, but didn't reply, pulling back and hopping down onto the next tier of the fountain before holding a hand out to me. "Come show me what you wanted me to see in the dark?"

I took him up to the top of the sky tower at the end of the playground, where giant, android birds roosted. I chose one whose plumage burned deep blue, which looked absolutely derisann against Daniel's copper skin as we rode on it's back into the night sky. It flew slow, lazy patterns through spirals of specially grouped stars, and from it's golden beak flowed liquid music; sweet, heartbreaking words of love and beauty.

It was still as overwhelming as the first time I'd ridden, but I let the emotion overtake me, tears silently running down my cheeks. Daniel turned in my arms to press trembling kisses to my face, just as overwhelmed. "Marry me," he whispered against my lips, and my heart lept with joy. "I'm so sorry I said no when you asked. I want to be with you."

"For as long as you want," I promised, still weeping with joy, and lost myself to the pleasure of his kisses.

I rented a bird plane to get to the Silver Citidel as quickly as possible, which was where all the Jang married in Four BAA. I was so keyed up that paying was easy. Daniel clung to my hand as I pulled him up the steps to the ring counters, still half believing that he was going to change his mind.

"Tell me what to do," he murmured in my ear, expression anxious. "I don't want to mess this up."

I nodded, kissing his forehead. "I will. Just follow my lead, you'll be fine. How long should we marry?"

Daniel looked up at me hesitantly. "... a full vrek?"

I felt my heart leap again, and cupped his face with a hand, kissing him gently. "So long, ooma-kasma? Are you sure?"

Daniel nodded ever-so-slightly. "I told you. I don't form attachments flippantly."

"Then a vrek it will be. And after that we'll extend longer. As long as you want."

"Even if I have to go back?"

The thought of it was more painful than it had ever been, but I nodded. "Whatever you need. I promise."

We bought matching ring sets for full-vrek - pearl set white gold for him, black and emerald for me - and exchanged them, promising to have love with no-one else for the vrek unless we paid for annulment. Then I rented a floater in the clouds and took him back up into the night sky.

Daniel seemed both eager and shy at once, and the combination of it made me feel even more tender and adoring than I already did. I pressed gentle kisses to his face and lips, trying to reassure him, stroking my hands up over his chest to push his vest off his shoulders.

He stopped me with a hand to my chest, looking up at me anxiously, and swallowed. "For my twenty first _birthday_ my father paid for a woman to have love with Ben and I. I don't think he intended it to be at the same time. But I'm not sure I could have done it without him there. A few years later I took another woman to bed in an effort to dispel some... rumors. That's been all for me, until you."

I smiled, stroking his cheek. "Don't worry. I'll take care of you. I won't do anything you don't want me to."

"I know. That's not what I'm worried about." Daniel stepped back until he reached the float bed, biting his bottom lip as he looked up at me. "You're so unbearably sexy, everything about you. The strength of your gorgeous body, the way that you touch me, the way you look at me, I... I'm not certain how well I can.... compared to your other lovers...."

I smiled, urging him own onto the bed with me and catching his mouth with my own. "Don't think about that. All I want is you, ooma. More than I've wanted anything in a very long time."

Daniel's hands rubbed hungrily over the flat planes of my chest as we kissed, stroking my shoulders and arms as if testing and taking in the strength and solidity of my body. I caught the sweetness of his bottom lip between mine, sucking and nibbling gently, groaning at the way it made him whimper and arch closer. I was torn between wanting to take my time and devour him whole, so I tried to take my cues from Daniel.

Despite his words he seemed anything but uncertain. His kisses quickly grew hungrier, more needy, hands more demanding in their caress, sliding down over my back to cup and clench my ass through my pants. Then they slid into the slits at the sides, stroking my bare thighs, then trying to figure out the clasps on the waistband.

I helped him pull them off, and his own, kicking them off the float bed. Then I pressed him back down, losing myself to the sweetness of his mouth, moaning as he pushed a hand between us to curl around my quickly hardening cock. "Mm, ooma...."

Daniel drew a soft, shivering breath against my mouth, fingers smoothing up the shaft of my cock exploratively, caressing, gently pushing the skin back more from the head. I let him urge me down onto my back, his blue eyes moving over the length of my body as he continued to stroke and caress me, sliding his hand down further to cup my sack, rolling it gently against his palm. "You're so incredible," he murmured, sounding slightly overwhelmed, and I arched up into his touch unabashedly, pulling him down to kiss me.

"And you are, ooma-kasma," I murmured, keeping one arm tight around him while the other slid down to stroke him, finding him as hard as I was. "Tell me what you want...."

Daniel's hips rocked up against my palm, and he closed his eyes, forehead resting against mine, breath ragged against my skin. His fingers moved back to my cock, working me a little more desperately, his thumb sliding slick over the arousal on the head of my cock. He gave a helpless, breathless little laugh. "Everything. Oh god, I... want to touch you and taste you, I want - I want to feel you... I want you inside me, I want...."

I kissed him again, trying to soothe away his trembling, broken words. But Daniel responded with so much passion - kissing me hard, tongue plundering my mouth - that I couldn't help but answer that passion with everything I was feeling. I started to stroke him more firmly, long, smooth strokes from root to tip, my palm slick with his arousal, pulling back only to get more slick from the love machine. I kissed away his helpless, trembling moan.

"You're so close already, aren't you ooma?" I murmured, feeling him draw a shivering gasp against me.

"Yes, I - oh god, I - I'm sorry - "

"Shh," I murmured, kissing away his words, breath hitching as his fingers tightened around me in turn. "Oh yes, ooma... love how hard you are... feels so good to stroke your gorgeous cock, so good to be with you.... want to have love with you all night, we have all night.... don't hold back, ooma....."

The fingers of Daniel's free hand bit into my back as his hips stuttered into my touch, and I felt his whole body tense, a helpless gasp breaking from his lips that sounded almost like a sob as he found completion. I kissed it away, stroking him slowly as he spilled in my fingers, reveling in the knowledge of his pleasure.

As he caught his breath, Daniel's eyes moved over me, incredulous and wondering. "So fucking beautiful," he breathed, fingers returning to their gentle exploration of my cock, pressing against the head and massaging gently. "Make love to me. Please...."

I'd always been able to last far longer when I was male, and I felt no hurry to find climax now, but I was all too happy to work towards his request. I pressed him back into the float bed, gathering more slick on my fingers to mix with his seed , stroking it over his sack and back between his thighs as they parted eagerly to me. Still, I took my time, teasing and caressing his inner thighs and the sensitive skin behind his sack, rolling his balls in my hand until I could see his cock began to stir again.

Daniel bit his lip on a moan as my fingers curled around his cock again. "God... can't believe how different it feels when you're male. I mean, I've always known that I - I've just never... never experienced...."

I smiled, pressing soft, slow kisses to his lips and face as he spoke, finally moving one slick finger to stroke and massage against his ass. He tensed reactively, but it didn't take much to get him to relax again, stroking and massaging gently until I could work my finger inside him. I stole his trembling moan with a kiss. "It's because you want this," I murmured, working my finger deeper, pumping gently. "I know just how it feels, darling... to crave your mate's cock so badly.... to ache to be taken, filed...."

Daniel's breath grew ragged against my mouth as I spoke, one hand half-raking down my back, clenching at my ass to pull me closer. "Oh god yes...."

I pressed a second finger inside him with ease, feeling my own patience begin to grow thin, my cock hard and aching for more stimulation where it pressed against his hip. I let myself grind against him slowly, forcing myself to take my time and think about nothing but his pleasure. But Daniel again surprised me.

"Please," he gasped, arching up against my fingers, lips ghosting over mine, breath ragged and desperate. "I want all that, I want you so badly, please, please....."

How could I resist that? I eased my fingers away and urged him onto his side, pressing up against his back and wrapping my arms tight around him. The hard length of my cock pressed between his thighs naturally, and for a moment I just let myself rock against him, over his slick, heated flesh.

Daniel reached back to grab my hip, fingers digging into my skin. "Don't tease me," he begged, voice trembling. "I'm good, I'm ready, oh god please fuck me...."

"My darling," I murmured, his words thick on my tongue with desire. Then I reached between us to answer his request, rocking gently against him until my cock breached the tight heat of his body. Somehow the sensation felt more overwhelming than I could remember, and between that and Daniel's shivering cry of pleasure I couldn't make myself hold back, sheathing myself inside him with a few deep thrusts.

"God, ooma, you feel so good..." I kept my arm tight around his waist as my hips bucked against him helplessly, lost in the squeeze of his body around my cock and craving more. I pressed ragged, breathless kisses to his shoulder and the crook of his neck, forcing myself to control myself, fucking him in slow, deep thrusts that pushed his breath from his lips in a gasp.. "So hot and tight around my cock, oh....!"

"So good," he gasped, rolling his hips back against me, a breathless, almost surprised cry escaping his lips. "Oh fuck!"

I knew the pleasure he must be feeling and angled to drive it through him again, moving a little harder against him. "Oh yes, ooma... like that? This what you wanted, my ooma? Wanted to feel so much pleasure, wanted me to make you come undone on my cock....."

 

"Yes," he gasped, half sobbing in pleasure. "Oh god yes. More, please, oh god more, harder...!"

My body reacted without further encouragement, snapping into him again, hard and deep, again and again. I slid my hand down to curl around his cock, driving him into my grasp as I lost myself in the exquisite bliss of his body. "So good," I gasped, trying to keep my thrusts even and failing, pleasure tingling in my groin, threatening to overwhelm me. "Oh, ooma, I can't... you feel too good, going to make me come so hard....!"

"Please," he begged, rocking back against me, cock slick and hard in my fingers. "I want you so bad, fuck - "

"Yeah?" I let my hips snap into him, ragged and craving, sensation the most exquisite torture as I forced myself to ride the edge of completion. "Want me to claim you, my ooma? Fill you up and come deep inside you - "

Daniel clenched down around my cock with a harsh sob, and the sensation overwhelmed me completely, breaking the threads of my self control. I bucked deep into him, rutting against his ass as hot shocks of pleasure cascaded through me, spilling inside him in hot spurts. Daniel was already spilling in my fingers as I did, each breath a whimpering gasp of pleasure, his fingers clenching my hip so tightly that I couldn't have pulled away even if I'd wanted to.

Finally Daniel's fingers relaxed their grip on my hip, rubbing my skin gently as I felt his body begin to calm. He gave a breathless, incredulous laugh. "Oh god."

I smiled, every nerve in my body singing with both adoration and satisfaction. "Was that what you wanted, ooma?"

"Oh yes," he sighed, and gave another soft laugh. "God, it... oh...."

Hearing him struggle for words made me feel even more adoring. I shifted so I could curl over him, claiming his mouth as he turned it up to me for a kiss. "You were amazing, ooma," I murmured, worshiping his lips with my own. "Thank you so much...."

"Me?" He laughed softly against my mouth, fingers stroking up into my hair. "You, darling. God. I always assumed that sex must be about the pleasure of submitting... giving yourself to your lover. I didn't expect... fuck, that was so good...."

I found myself grinning against his mouth, his words making me feel even more pleased, satisfaction thick and warm and beautiful. "Then you don't regret agreeing to marry me for a whole vrek?"

Daniel laughed and shook his head, fingers tightening in my curls. "I would be most upset if we hadn't."

"Good," I murmured, and kissed him again, "because we have the floater for the whole night."

~~~


	6. Chapter 6

"Attlevey, oomas. Sorry to interrupt." Larry's voice sounded undeniably smug as the audio came from my baa. "But our records will be coming through from BII soon, so we should move on to Four BEE today."

I suppose he had every right to be smug. Daniel and I hadn't been back to the hotel for over three units.

I have a noncommittal groan and buried my face in Daniel's chest. We'd spent the night on a floating island, having love while silvery dragons swam around us in the lake, blowing fountains of shimmering light towards the starry sky. But then, it had been easy to find place after place to take him, to secret myself away with my beautiful mate and have love.

Daniel's fingers stroked through my curls, and he turned his attention to my baa. "We'll get decent and make our way back, Larry. Give us around sixty splits, please."

I lifted my head to kiss him as I motioned the communication closed on my baa, smiling against his mouth. "It won't take us that long to get back.

"I know." Daniel returned my smile, arching closer to me, stroking his hands down to cup my ass. "Have love with me one more time, darling... it's going to be such a long trip to BEE without the pleasure of your touch...."

That was a request I was more than happy to agree to, trading increasingly heated kisses as we aroused each other with caresses that were gradually becoming more familiar, but no less electrifying. Daniel approached having love with both a wonder and hunger for it that I'd never experienced with a lover before, and I couldn't get enough of him.

That morning I let him push me onto my back and ride me, hands braced on my shoulders, gasping out his pleasure as he impaled himself on my cock. I drank in the beauty of his form, stroking hands over his thighs and hips, clenching his ass as I rocked with him. Watching his pleasure was completely intoxicating, and I arched into his kisses as he leaned down to claim my mouth, voice a breathless cry of pleasure. "Oh god, love - !"

"My love," I replied, hearing my own voice came husky, and though it was strange to use the word as such, doing so felt completely _right_.

I cuddled close to him in the bubble as we traveled back to the hotel, nuzzling the softness of his hair. "Let's go rescue your brother," I murmured, pressing a kiss to his hair. "Then we can celebrate and do this again."

Daniel turned to look up at me with a trembling smile, eyes bright, stroking his fingers up into my hair. "You really think we can?"

I nodded. "Look at everything we've already done. Look at what _you've_ done, my ooma-kasma. Everything that's brought you to me. This is just one more step. We'll do it together."

His eyebrows raised. "You'll come with me?"

That hadn't been what I'd meant to imply; I hadn't even considered the idea. Thinking about it now I found myself smiling. "Yes. Yes, of course I will. I insist. I'm coming with you no matter what."

My certainty seemed to trouble my lover. "I want you to," he said softly, and bit his lip. "But if something goes wrong and we can't get back...."

"Then I want to be there with you," I replied, pressing a kiss to his forehead, and another to his lips. "Especially if we can't get back. Ooma, I told you.... nothing we do here has any consequence except for the relationships we make. You're far more important to me than any of it."

Daniel hugged me tightly, wordlessly, and I kept him close all the way back to the hotel.

Everyone had packed what few belongings they'd gathered during our time in BAA and were waiting with both Frank's bird plane and the girl's on the landing pad below our hotel suite terrace. 

I wasn't surprised to find that Larry had married again, this time a dazzing Jang boy with good sized indigo devil wings arching from his back and cascades of purple hair streaked with blue, pulled up into a high ponytail and still hitting the floor. I never liked to wear my own hair so long, not when it so often got in the way when having love. I raised an eyebrow at Larry. "We're all going to Four BEE?"

He nodded. "Frank and Leon weren't sure at first, since they're trying to keep a low profile. But Leon convinced Frank that it will only help their cause to act as Jang as possible."

It reassured me that they were coming; despite his reservations I highly valued Frank's ability to think rationally and logically no matter how chaotic things got around us, and I'd always been fond of Leon. "Good. And...." I nodded towards the newcomer, and Larry grinned.

"Oh, yes. Kuro!" He waved over his lover and introduced us. "Kuro's from Four BEE as well, we've had the most lovely marriage since he seduced me away from Jax. He's up for a bit of sabotage."

"I think your idea is absolutely groshing," the other Jang said, violet eyes bright with delight. "Stealing and putting together your own matter-displacer? Think of the havoc we could wreck with that!"

I caught Daniel giving me a questioning look and squeezed his hand reassuringly. "It'll be completely insumatt," I agreed.

Kuro looked us over appraisingly, then glanced back to Larry with a smirk. "Your circle's so attractive, ooma. Don't suppose these two would want to come rent some floaters with us when we get to Four BEE?"

"They're still honeymooning," Larry said for us quickly, before I had to, and he slipped a hand around Kuro's waist, pulling him close possessively. "Besides, I'm not ready to share you yet."

"Don't worry," I told Daniel once we were settled in the Frank's bird plane with him and Leon, on our way to BEE. "Larry's out-circle marriages never last long. He needs more variety in his love life than any one person can give him."

"If you're sure," Daniel replied, still worried. "The more people who get wind of our real plan, the greater chance there is of exposure."

"We'll handle it," Frank assured before I had to, guiding the bird plane out of the dome portal with practiced ease, then setting the autopilot and turning around to join our conversation.

Part of me wondered if I shouldn't be jealous of how easily Daniel seemed to have integrated himself with my circle. He spoke with both Frank and Leon as openly as if they'd known each other for vreks, and before the journey was even halfway done Frank had told him more than he ever had me, about his experiences with the Committee and his fears about transitioning to Older Person status and losing Leon. They chatted and theorized ways to get around it at length as we snacked on food from the provision dispenser, and by the time the day grew late I couldn't help but think that both Frank and Leon seemed more at ease than I'd seen them in a long time.

"You're really good at talking to people," I told him as we curled together in the plane's supplementary float-bed compartment.

Daniel smiled, strangely self conscious, and glanced away, though he curled closer to me. "Thank you. That... means a lot, actually. It's what I was training to do. Before... all this."

I stroke my fingers through his hair. "What do you mean?"

"For work," he replied. "I wanted to help people. To counsel them. I suppose Q-R's do that in this time."

I shook my head. "Q-Rs don't understand anything. I guess they try, but...."

He seemed troubled. "That's a shame."

I thought about how much calmer Frank had seen, after their talk, and then about how many people I knew who were completely zaradann with how droad and repetitive life was. "It is," I said slowly. "Maybe people would have it easier, if they could talk to someone who could really understand their feelings instead of just being programmed to make logical deductions."

Thinking about such things was a stark reminder of how different his time was from my own, and I couldn't help but worry. I stroked a strand of hair back from his face. "Are you sure you want to stay here, ooma-kasma? This world is so different... If you ever tire of me....."

He glanced down, flushing. "I don't think there's much risk of that."

"But if you do," I pressed. "Or if you just get tired of all this. I don't want you to do something that will make you unhappy just for me."

Daniel pressed a soft kiss to my lips, cuddling close. "Don't worry about me, darling. I'll deal with that if it happens. I won't lose the opportunity to be with you just because of a few what ifs."

His words made my heart ache, and I held him tightly against me. "Oh, Daniel... I feel so much love for you that I can hardly stand it."

He shivered against me, voice husky when he answered. "I love you too, John. So very much."

~~End Part One~~


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